The new nationwide tax is meant to replace a mosaic of central and state levies and remove check posts at borders.
Less than eight hours before India was to keep its tryst with the "biggest tax reform since Independence", at Kundli — the entry point for trucks bringing goods from Haryana to Delhi — there was absolute confusion over how the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime will be implemented.
The new nationwide tax is meant to replace a mosaic of central and state levies and remove check posts at borders. But rumours and half-truths float around. Talk to truckers and owners of transport companies as well as tax officials, and the impression that one gets is that the ground work that should have been done to "educate" these people hasn't happened so far.
"It's like a movie, which may be very good or very bad. But you have to watch it completely since the trailer leaves you completely in the dark. What is happening now is that we have the trailer of GST. It will be clear after a few days — if not weeks — whether the movie (GST) will be a hit or not," says a senior official of a private logistics company at Kundli border.
There is no octroi on goods being brought into Delhi, but there is an entry tax on commercial vehicles depending on size and classification, officials said. Toll collection on commercial vehicles by local bodies will continue as before, they said.
But due to no or zero clarity on how the new tax system has to be implemented, transporters have neither taken new orders nor generated invoices (bills). They are being cautious and are trying to avoid losses.
"I reached here from Guwahati on June 27. Neither have I received my payment nor have I been sent out anywhere," said Bhagat Singh, a truck driver.
Some have told their employees that it a three-day holiday with trucks stranded outside the offices of transporters.
"The market is shut. We do not know what has to be done. Only the top hierarchy will tell us. Other transporters are confused like everyone else," said another transporter from the area.
But transporters do believe that the introduction of the new tax system would reduce the time taken for goods to reach a particular destination.
Several states have been already removed check posts voluntarily. Others are likely to follow suit.
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