An emergency meeting of the representatives of the Federation of Industries Jammu (FOIJ) and Federation Chamber of Industries Kashmir (FCIK) here expressed concern over alleged attempts being made by “vested interests” for withdrawal of toll tax at Lakhanpur saying it could be death knell to J&K’s industrial sector
The meeting was attended by Lalit Mahajan, chairman FOIJ, Ashraf Mir, chairman FCIK, Vijay Aggarwal, Ajit Bawa, Jatinder Aul, Deepak Dhawan, Ravi Magooria, Pardeep Vaid, Ajay Langer, Bansi Lal Gupta, Lavinder Singh Puri, Sanjdeep Mittal, Vivek Singhal, Viraaj Malhotra and Ratesh Mahajan.
In a statement, chairman Federation of Industries Jammu Lalit Mahajan said during the course of discussions, the members of different industrial associations of Jammu province and chairman FCIK raised serious concern regarding “repeated attempts of some vested interests who are bent upon to destroy the industrial sector of J&K by demanding removal of toll tax at Lakhanpur with their “ill-design” to allow the import and export of unaccounted goods to and fro the State. This may result in huge financial loss to the State exchequer as well as to the industrial sector of J&K.”
The representatives of different business bodies said that the toll tax at Lakhanpur is a safeguard for the industrial sector of the State to check the import and export of unaccounted goods, contraband and other banned items to and from other parts of the Country.
The meeting resolved that the government should not remove toll tax check post at Lakhanpur.
It also demanded that toll exemptions should continue in GST regime to the existing as well as new industrial units to compensate the additional transportation cost on the raw materials and finished goods.