E-way bill Day 1: Implementation smooth, say transporters

TRANSPORTERS of goods and parcel services in the state said the implementation of e-way bill for movement of goods and services across Maharashtra on Sunday, the first day of its launch, was smooth. Associations claimed that they were able to generate online bills with ease and did not face much trouble. As part of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) implementation last year, the bill tracks movement of goods worth over Rs 50,000 across states and also checks on tax evasion. Clients transporting goods are required fill in details of the material they are transporting on the e-way bill portal, which generates a bill. They are required to produce the bill during their journey across states.

The implementation of the bill was postponed from February to April 1 after users complained that the site crashed within an hour after they started fillling in the details. “We did not face any problem like that. Being a Sunday, vehicles were less. Many cargo vehicles did not step out, which further reduced the number of goods vehicles on the roads,” Ashok Goyal from the Bombay Goods Transport Association said.

All India Motor Transport Congress core committee chairman Bal Malkit Singh said: “Our concern, like last time, is that the system should be fully geared up to meet the industry’s requirements. The process should be smooth and quick.” Transport associations had complained about the validity of an e-way bill, which is for 24 hours after it is generated. “If a driver is unwell or wants to take rest for some time, he would not be able to do so as the bill gets expired in 24 hours. If we flout the deadline, heavy penalties are levied. It should not be made so strict as this puts undue pressure,” Goyal said.

Rajiv Jalota, the Maharahstra GST commissioner, said: “We did not receive any complaint like last time. The implementation on Day One looked smooth. We are yet to decide on when we would begin checking of bills across the state as the primary aim is to facilitate its easy generation.” He added that workshops to train cargo transporters and suppliers on how to generate and use e-way bills had been arranged in the past few months.

On Day One, as many as 24,000 e-way bills were generated and 594 new goods dealers were registered on the platform. According to the state GST department, Maharashtra seen total registration of 83,400 dealers and 2,440 transporters on the e-way common platform. A decision on if e-way bills would be needed for intra-state movement of goods and services is yet to be taken.