Govt to set INR 4000 cr overhaul of 80 check posts for GST

Road Transport and Highways Ministry is considering a Rs 4,000 crore-overhaul of around 80 border check posts across the country to ensure seamless flow of goods ahead of the implementation of GST. An app to link check posts under state governments as well as the Centre is also in the works, the government has said. “The Ministry would be one of the biggest contributors towards the GST

regime. There are check posts under the state government as well as the Central government. We are going to link them and are developing an app for it,” Road Transport and Highways Minster Nitin Gadkari said.

The government is keen to implement the biggest tax reform since Independence from April 1 next year and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) aims to iron out a multi-layered indirect tax system, subsume all other indirect taxes and usher in a uniform tax structure. It was conceptualised in 2006 under the United Progressive Alliance-1 government.

State border check posts, which scrutinise material and location-based tax compliance, often stretch the transit time of goods by hours.“The Road Transport and Highways Ministry has decided that complementary activities should happen for GST implementation. It has identified 80 inter-state check points pan-India to be augmented for smooth flow of goods,an estimated Rs 50 crore is likely to be spent on each such check post.