The State’s oldest trade body, the Utkal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UCCI), has urged Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to exempt GST on some specific items in the fisheries and poultry sectors and on fly ash.
In a representation handed over to Jaitley during his recent visit to the State, UCCI president Ramesh Mohapatra pressed for exempting from the purview of GST fishnet twine and ropes used by the fishing industry, poultry and fly ash bricks and blocks.
The applicable GST on fishing nets, fishing twines and fishing ropes should be totally exempted as these are quite necessary for the fishermen and are now exempted from the purview of the Central excise duty and also VAT in almost all the States, said Mohapatra, adding that these fishing nets are highly essential for the livelihood of the fisherman community.
Similarly, fishnet twine used for manufacture, mending and repair of fishing nets which is not taxed now should also be exempted. Fishing rope which was exempted earlier in many States should also be exempted and fishing rope if at all to be taxed, it should be at 5 per cent, urged Mohapatra.
Pleading to maintain “status-quo” with regard to taxation of poultry products under GST regime as compared with present indirect tax regime, Mohapatra said under the model GST law, the definition of agriculture excludes “poultry” from its ambit.
Currently, entire poultry sector (egg, chicken and major inputs like poultry feed) is not subject to any indirect taxes. However, if GST is imposed, it would lead to heavy increase in prices of these essential food products and adversely impact the pockets of poor and public at large, he pointed out, stressing that encompassing poultry sector within the ambit of GST law would also be highly detrimental to the poultry farmers.
“Poultry sector in Odisha has `50 lakh commercial layer bird capacity producing about 120 crore table eggs annually and contribute to approximately `1,200 crore to State GDP, including value of production of broilers of the State,” he said.
While pressing for exemption of GST on fly-ash products, Mohapatra said fly-ash bricks and blocks have replaced the conventional red bricks which results in less pollution (as there is no burning of coal like the red bricks) and more importantly, it uses the very polluting fly ash that is generated from large numbers of thermal power plants. “These industries such as fly-ash bricks and fly-ash blocks reduce the menace of fly-ash and these industries are in green categories and all these units are in small scale sector,” he said.
These exemptions can greatly benefit the underprivileged and deprived section of the country and help promote large scale employment as also help reduce pollution, Mohapatra said.