E-way bill system by April 1

SHILLONG, MAR 21: Chief Minister Conrad Sangma today informed the House that the E-way Bill System will be launched in the state on April 1.

Replying in the Assembly here on Wednesday, Conrad said, “In preparation for the launch of the E-way Bill System, all officers f the taxation department from the level of inspector of taxes and above have been trained and also awareness programmes through workshops have been organized in the state for stakeholders.”

Opposition Congress legislator Winnerson D Sangma however expressed concern over tax evasion due to absence of E-way Bill System even after the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) which also led to the closing down of all check gates.

On this, the chief minister said the GST now allows the whole system to come under one tax and every change in the system does have challenges which cannot be avoided.

“Earlier whatever pilferages that is taking place was reduced and in fact after implementation of the GST, the system has been tightened but yes once we have the E-way bill it will be even more tightened,” he said.

Referring to old VAT system, Conrad said, “In the earlier system (VAT) there was more pilferages and there was more scope of losing revenue and we did lose revenue as we could not get desired result and desired tax collection we should have got.”

Meanwhile, the chief minister further informed that in the meantime, the government has put in place a mobile checking system and 108 officials have also been trained which include 89 superintendents.

“Therefore the system is in place and we do hope once E-way Bill is implemented even our revenue in our state will see a significant jump,” he said.

He also assured that as the E-way Bill comes, the state will have a tighter system and chances of pilferage will be more or less negated.

By Our Reporter