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Traders welcome U.P. govt’s decision to put off GST inspection drive
Markets returned to life in the region on Tuesday as several shops opened after a week-long hiatus due to the drive
GORAKHPUR Business community in the Gorakhpur division has welcomed the state government’s decision to put off the GST inspection drive, which was going on across the state to check for traders evading tax payments. Protesting the drive, several traders were keeping their shops closed. However, markets returned to life in the region on Tuesday as several shops opened after a week-long hiatus due to the drive.
Speaking on the development, Nitin Jaiswal, president of the traders’ association in Gorakhpur, said, “We were confident that chief minister Yogi Adityanath would listen to our concerns. We are ready to pay our taxes but such drives are not justified. Before conducting surveys, office-bearers of trader organisations should be informed.”
In a similar vein, Ganesh Verma, another office-bearer of the traders’ association, said, “There is a need to create awareness about tax payments but the state should also instil confidence among traders, who were in fear of the inspection drive.” Another representative of the body, Sanjay Agarwal, pointed out that the loss incurred by traders due to the drive in the last six days is irreparable.
Pushpa Dant Jain, chairman of the traders’ association, has vowed that the body would soon reach out to traders without GST registration. “As per CM’s direction, unregistered traders would soon be registered in a joint camp, said Jain.”
However, former zila panchayat member and SP leader Sunil Gupta has said that this is just temporary relief and the government acceded to demands only to guard its interest in the upcoming local body elections.
Meanwhile, in a related incident, two miscreants posing as members of the GST team and demanding ₹5 lakh from a hardware shop owner in Siddharthnagar were held on Tuesday.
