State yet to take a call on dismantling tax check posts

SHILLONG: The State Government is yet to take a call on whether the border commercial tax check posts should be done away with immediately post the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Altogether 22 states in the country have abolished the border commercial tax check posts.
Additional Chief Secretary in charge Excise Registration Taxation Stamps Department (ERTS), PW Ingty said he has already asked the Taxation department to examine the matter and get back to the government at the earliest.
On the other hand, Commissioner of Taxes, Abhishek Bhagotia said that certain items like petrol and IMFL do not come under the purview of GST and these need to be monitored and hence an alternative mechanism is required to keep a check on such items.
“The government will soon take a decision on whether the check posts would be closed down immediately or after a period of time. A decision in this regard may come within 10 days,” he said.
The department at the moment has 11 functional check posts in the State, including three major check gates at Byrnihat in Ri Bhoi, Umkiang in East Jaintia Hills and Dainadubi in North Garo Hills.
It may be mentioned that states including Telangana, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat and Karnataka removed toll booths from their boundaries. Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Goa, Haryana, Jharkhand, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Puducherry also did away with the check posts.
The abolition of check posts will allow seamless movement of goods across the border, ending hours of waiting that commercial vehicles had to endure at state boundaries.
Seamless transport is expected to cut transport costs that will help make goods cheaper.