STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Accusing the BJP of being hand in glove with PDP for safeguarding the so called J and K’s special position over the implementation of Modified GST by continuing to impose toll tax on the trucks carrying goods into the State at Lakhanpur Toll Plaza, Panther Party activists spearheaded by Harsh Dev Singh Chairman JKNPP staged a protest at Exhibition Ground, here on Thursday.
The agitated protestors while raising anti-government slogans torched the effigy of the BJP-PDP combine and sought immediate abolition of the said tax in J and K like other states of the country in the interest of the traders and the consumers.
Asserting that the continuation of Lakhanpur Toll Plaza in J and K had isolated the State from rest of India in the new tax regime, Harsh regretted that the BJP-PDP coalition had despicably succumbed to the dictates of the secessionist forces in the valley by appeasing those who had waged an open war with India that it had not sailed in the Indian mainstream on GST but resorted to modify the new tax regime for its implementation in the State.
He said that the State Government imposing toll tax at Lakhanpur on trucks carrying goods into the State had led to ‘Double Taxation’ which overtly violated the very principle of “one nation, one tax” which formed the very foundation of GST. Asserting that the extra levy made goods costlier, he sought immediate closure of the Lakhanpur Toll Plaza in the interest of the trading community and the common masses.
Taking a dig on the BJP-PDP combine, Singh said that the retention of Lakhanpur Toll Plaza amounted to imposition of additional Jazia on the goods entering the State of J and K. He said that its retention when all such entry points across the country had been abolished under the new tax regime had only exposed the double standards of the Saffron party which had surrendered its kernel philosophy only to keep its alliance intact. He also wondered over the exclusion of cross LoC trade from the purview of GST which had been reported to import ‘Hawala money’ and narcotics to fund terror in the State by the NIA recently.
“Despite Saffron party’s rule at the centre and in the State, it was a matter of shame that Lakhanpur toll point was not abolished like in other states on the midnight of July 1, 2017 when new tax regime was implemented all across the country.
Among those who spoke on the occasion included Rajesh Padgotra, Gagan Partap, Sham Gorkha, Shanker Singh Chib, Khajoor Singh, Raj Kumar Jandial, Stiffness Gill, Vikas Bali, Rohit Sharma, Capt. Narotam, Amandeep, Mohinder Singh, Rajesh Gondhi, Rohit Sharma, Pawan Deep, Sansar Chand, Soni Sambyal, Narinder Sharma and Rakesh Verma.
