Bhubaneswar: The high-level meeting scheduled to settle the row over value added tax (VAT) on essential commodities scheduled to be held today has been postponed till tomorrow.
Following last week’s discussions which did not yield any results, another high-level meeting between the State Government and the traders’ association was scheduled today to sort out the issue of value added tax (VAT) on certain commodities.
During the last meeting on March 26, the State government gave certain proposals and asked the traders’ association to consider them and revert.
Notably, angry over the State government’s ‘failure’ to exempt 5% VAT on essential commodities, the traders’ association on March 25, decided to stop import of pulses, wheat and wheat products from neighbouring States from April 1.
The traders’ body argued that though nine months had passed since it assured to take a call on the VAT issue, the State government had not taken any concrete decision on the matter.
The State government has made it clear it wants a uniform VAT rate on pulses, wheat and wheat products for all states.