Traders' body Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has called for 'Bharat Bandh' on February 26 demanding a review of the "draconian" provisions of the goods and services tax (GST) regime. Several other transport bodies are also protesting against the changes in the E-way bill and the continuous rise in diesel prices.
Here is everything you need to know:
1. The CAIT claimed that more than 8 crore traders belonging to over 40,000 business organisations across the country, including Delhi, will join the 'Bharat Vyapar Bandh' by shutting their commercial establishments.
2. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), spearheading anti-farm laws protests at Delhi borders, has appealed to farmers to peacefully participate in a 'Bharat Bandh' called by transport and trade unions today.
3. The CAIT said 'dharnas' (protests) will be held nationwide in 1,500 places.
4. The All India Transporters Welfare Association (AITWA), representing nearly 1 crore transporters, is also supporting the 'Bharat Bandh call' and will hold a 'Chakka Jam' today.
5. The CAIT has excluded essential services such as medicine shops, milk and vegetable shops from the 'bandh'.
6. Representatives from other traders' bodies like the Federation of All India Vyapar Mandal and the Bharatiya Udyog Vyapar Mandal told PTI they have not extended support to the 'bandh'.
7. As many as 6 million trucks including 1.2 million national permit holders (about 75,000 inbound and outbound trucks are in Bengaluru) will go off the roads.
Why transporters have called for 'bandh'
E-way bill
The CAIT as well as AITWA want the government to scrap the new e-way bill, a permit associated with the inter-state and intra-state movement of goods, or eliminate certain rules from it. The bill mandates transporters to comply with various rules such as covering a total journey of 200 km per day from consignor place to consignee place as per pin code calculated at the shortest distance. The transporters claim that the rule does not take into account many factors such as holidays, accident, congestion en-route or at the unloading place, driver's personal issue. If the E-way bill, which is valid for a day, expires due to any mistake, penalties for a truck amount up to 200 per cent of the tax value, or 100 per cent of the invoice value under Section 129 of CGST Act, 2017.
Rising fuel prices
Apart from E-way Bill, AITWA has also represented the skyrocketing diesel prices, which should be reduced and mechanisms need to be discussed and created with the Transport Industry for future regulation.
GST
CAIT Secretary-General Praveen Khandelwal observed that voluntary compliance is the key to a successful GST regime, as it will encourage more people to join the indirect tax system, increase the tax base and boost revenue. Almost 950 amendments have been made so far to GST rules in the past four years, he said, adding that the issues related to glitches in the GST portal and the continuous increase in compliance burden are the major lacunae in the tax regime.