The new process of e-declaration of cargo coming from outside Kerala, now going on smoothly, reports – Commercial Taxes Department official, which was put in place on last week.
e-declaration, is now mandatory at all check-posts in the State, had hit snarls when it was first introduced a week before at Walayar, the biggest cargo gateway in the State. Trucks wanting to enter Kerala had piled up miles together on the Walayar-Coimbatore road on July 15.
Easy Process
The teething troubles were sorted out and that the online process now got smoothened. This would ease out the congestion and frustrations at the Walayar check-post where around 1,500 trucks queue up every day.
e-declaration, which is aimed to simplify the shipment procedures and check tax evasion, has been mandatory for two years. And procedure had certain loopholes; hence, tax evasion continued. Earlier, e-declaration was made by the transporting agency, which had allegedly facilitated a lot of frauds.
As per the new system, the declaration has to be made by the consignee in Form No. 8F before the truck reaches the check-post, using his login and password.
The system would generate a token number which could be sent as a text message to the truck driver. The driver could present the token number to the check post staff and if matched, the truck would be waved on.
Main advantages
One major advantage of the new procedure being that it would prevent multiple-entry of trucks using the same e-declaration.
Following last week’s snarls at Walayar, truckers’ organisations, transporting agencies and trade bodies had all criticised the hurried implementation of the new system.
The State government is now planning to launch an awareness campaign among truckers, consigners and transporting agencies in the southern states about the new system.
