Bring petrol, diesel under GST’s ambit: Traders’ body

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu Vanigar Sangangalin Peramaippu on Sunday called upon the Centre and State governments to bring petrol and diesel under the purview of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and also take stern measures to ban online trading which is affecting several lakhs of retailers across the State.

The traders' body at its annual conclave here on Traders' Day appear to focus more on GST and related issues. The Permaippu, which met under its president A. M. Vikrama Raja, said the GST should be further simplified and the Centre should fix an appropriate price for diesel and petrol after bringing them under the purview of the GST. Further, all agricultural produce and food products should be exempted from the GST for the benefit of farmers, the association said in its resolution passed on the occasion.

The Permaippu demanded the Centre to introduce pension scheme for all the traders who attain 60 years of age.

Plastics ban poses packaging problem to traders:

Though the Tamil Nadu government's initiative to ban plastics was well received by over 35-lakh traders across the State, after the initial euphoria, the traders were beginning to find difficulty in finding alternative packing material for rice, dhal, mixture, murruku, etc.

But as per the Food Safety Act no food product shall be sold without packaging. Plastic covers used here are recyclable and hence the government should not ban such plastic, it was pointed out.