NL Correspondent
Jammu Tawi, Dec 31: The UT administration in Jammu and Kashmir, though in a much belated step, on Tuesday ordered ceasing of operation of Toll Post at the entry of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state (now Union Territory) at Lakhanpur and also minor toll-posts at Railway Stations within Jammu and at Airport Jammu with effect from January 01, 2020. Department of Finance today issued two notifications 59 and 60 to this effect under Levy of Tolls Act 1938.
However, there is no relief on exorbitant and unreasonable charges at Bann Toll Plaza and newly created Toll Plaza at Sarore (Thandi Khui) for all vehicles.
Rohit Kansal, Principal Secretary, Planning, Development, Monitoring and Information later told in a press conference, “Post-GST, tariff-based barriers have been removed. The continuation of the toll tax regime, therefore, militates against the idea of ‘one nation, one tax.' Tariff-based import or export of commodities into and from the UT distorts the trade regime. It acts against the overall consumer interest by imposing an avoidable cost on them.”
Admitting such continuation as an anomaly and penalizing of consumers, Mr. Kansal said, “Continuation of toll tax not only penalised consumers by increasing the cost of commodities entering the UT, it also rendered the industrial sector in J&K uncompetitive owing to the high input costs,” adding further, “It fosters inefficiencies in level-playing field in the industrial sector. It also leads to quality and pricing issues for consumers in the UT. Although the abolition of toll tax will lead to an annual loss of about Rs 1,500 crore to the UT coffers, the philosophy of ‘one nation-one tax' needs to be implemented in letter and spirit,” the officer said.
It is pertinent to report that Jammu and Kashmir Government and later J&K UT Administration continued the operation of Toll Posts at Lakhanpur, Jammu Airport and Railways stations, the Excise and Taxation Department have been unreasonably levying the Toll Tax of various rates ranging from Rs. 80 to Rs. 400 per quintal on goods imported despite adoption of GST and did not bother about the holistic concept of ‘One Nation- one Tax'. This deliberate non-compliance of GST spirit subjected the consumers of Jammu and Kashmir dearer goods by paying more.
However, private vehicles were exempted by the erstwhile government post-GST, it continued to charge the Toll tax against the mandate of GST. The abolition of the Lakhanpur Toll could mean the locals getting products — such as pulses, oil and cement and even cigarettes — at cheaper rates from January 1. Cement is expected to be cheaper by Rs 40 per 50-kg bag.
While it was a long-pending demand of traders and transporters of J&K that this toll on goods be abolished, the removal of toll posts goes against the demand of local Industry that had a level playing field earlier in competing with the manufacturers of outside states. The edge of local manufacturers for having Toll Exemptions on import of their raw material for manufacturing will now vanish and will increase their cost of production while manufacturers from other states will now dump their finished goods at a cheaper rate viz a viz to that of local manufacturers.
The government has decided to set up a high-powered committee under the Adviser to the Lieutenant-Governor, KK Sharma, to interact with various stakeholders and suggest measures to improve competitiveness of the local industry.
Kansal, however, highlighted that the government remains committed to the development of a vibrant, modern and competitive industrial and manufacturing sector in Jammu and Kashmir.
