12 furnaces inspected, 60 vehicles impounded for GST evasion

In an ongoing investigation of special drive to detect GST Evasion in the industry of iron and steel, the tax department’s mobile wings searched 12 furnaces and seized 60 vehicles during a surprise check at Mandi Gobingarh on Monday.

Harpal Cheema, the minister of Finance, Planning, Exicse and Taxation stated that this special drive was conducted by mobile wings of State Investigation and Preventive Unit of Ropar, Patiala, Shambhu and Jalandhar.

He further said, “The raid was mainly focused on examine carefully the vehicles carrying finished goods and iron scraps. Plenty of vehicles missed the required e-way bills related to transported goods.”

According to the minister, the investigations indicated that the purchases were made from non-compliant firms that had not paid taxes to the national budget. Following an investigation, these cars might face fines of up to Rs.2 crore, according to Cheema.

Cheema stated that the department’s attention had been attracted to repeated complaints of GST avoidance by particular corporations. Finance Commissioner (Taxation) Vikas Pratap and Tax Commissioner Arshdeep Singh Thind were given explicit orders to arrange such surprise inspections at random in order to catch tax evaders.