TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The Kolhapur and Belgaum Chambers of Commerce have deferred their blockade that they had threatened to resort to in the wake of the Goa government imposing an entry tax on all vehicles entering the State.
The decision was arrived at after meeting Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar in his chamber. The delegations comprised members of the Kolhapur and Belgaum chambers of commerce and industry, the All India Motor Transport Congress and the meeting was facilitated by the Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
“The chief minister assured us that he will come out with a scheme for vehicles visiting Goa everyday in the form of either monthly or weekly concession passes. He also said that vehicles visiting Goa everyday could have a relaxation on the fee for the first 15 days. As such we have decided to allow supply of essential commodities for 15 days,” A A Pachaura, secretary of the Belgaum Motor Owners Association told media persons.
Earlier in the day, the delegations addressed a press conference emphasising Goa’s dependence on commodities coming in from Belgaum and Kolhapur including poultry, milk, groceries and vegetables.
“Goa does not produce any raw materials and nor does it have a big market for finished goods. The Goan industry depends heavily on import of raw materials, most of which enter Goa through National Highways 17, 17B and 4A,” the associations have said in a written representation addressed to the Deputy Chief Minister Francisco D’Souza.
“Goa imports meats, groceries, eggs, milk, vegetables from Maharashtra and Karnataka. If the government does not roll back the price, we will be forced to stop all vehicles coming to Goa with these essential commodities. There are other markets available where we can go,” Satish Tendulkar, president of the Belgaum Chamber of Commerce and Industries told reporters before they moved to the assembly complex to meet the transport minister and the chief minister.
The traders demanded that trucks carrying these essential commodities should be exempted from the tax, but that they had no problem if the government levied the tax on tourists entering the State.
Their meeting with the transport minister was less fruitful with the minister justifying the entry tax and failing to give them any assurance.
G R Shanmugappa, head of the All India Motor Transport Congress, which controls over four lakh commercial trucks and goods carriers, said that the tax was unprecedented and that no other state in India had an entry tax for non-state vehicles. He even questioned the legality of the state government’s decision. “The entry tax is unfair. State governments are not empowered to impose such taxes by amending the Motor Vehicles Act. It is the domain of the Central government,” Shanmugappa emphasised.
The traders sought to rely on the traditional cordial relations in various fields which Kolhapur, Belgaum have shared with Goa in terms of supplying essential commodities to the State.
“We know that for years together we are sharing a very cordial business relation with Goa. Many of the agriculturists, vegetable vendors, grocery traders are fully depending on Goa to provide services at reasonable rates,” the Belgaum Chamber of Commerce said in its representation adding that they felt the tax would result in an adverse impact rather than be of benefit to the State.