Union Food Processing Industry Minister Harsimrat Badal on Thursday thanked Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari for withdrawing the notification of a draft rule that divested tractor of its status as non-transport vehicle.
Harsimrat said that the move would be a big relief to the farmers across the nation, particularly so in Punjab where farmers were in the midst of an agrarian crisis due to the failure to the Congress government in the state to implement its Rs 90,000 crore loan waiver promise.
“The move would now ensure that the price of tractors would not go up due to imposition of higher GST (Goods and Services Tax) which would have happened if they had been declared as commercial vehicles.
She said that the farmers had also been saved from additional registration fee besides the need to acquire permits and a host of other conditions.
Stating that the low taxes on tractors in Punjab were due to pro-farmer policies of successive SAD-BJP governments, Harsimrat said that it was the former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal who had declared tractor as ‘kisan da gadda’ and exempted it from taxes.
“I have been pursuing for withdrawal of the draft notification proposing to include tractors in commercial vehicles category from the last two months after it was first brought to my notice by farmers in my constituency of Bathinda and am grateful to Gadkari ji for acceding to my request,” she added.
Gadkari has written to the Union Food Processing Minister on Thursday informing her that following her request, it had been decided to keep tractors out of the purview of commercial vehicles. He also disclosed that the draft notification proposing this change in the Motor Vehicle Act had been withdrawn.
