Traders Await Govt Nod To Abolish Lakhanpur Toll Plaza

The patience of the trading community of J&K is running out as six days have passed after the formation of new ‘dispensation’, but the authorities are yet to issue any order to abolish toll tax at Lakhanpur, the gateway to the newly created Union Territory (UT).
Like other parts of the country, the erstwhile state of J&K came under the GST regime in June 2017 but the then PDP-BJP coalition regime continued its own state tax, taking benefit of the ‘special status’. Even after the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of J&K into two UTs, the authorities are still imposing toll tax as well as additional GST on trucks carrying goods into this part.

“We were hoping that a formal declaration of J&K as a UT will remove ‘double taxation’ but nothing has been done so far,” Chamber of Commerce and Industries (CCI) president Rakesh Gupta told The Tribune, adding, “Very soon, we will meet newly appointed L-G Girish Chandra Murmu to apprise him of the ongoing double taxation in the UT of J&K”.