Punjab Finance, Planning, Excise and Taxation Minister, Harpal Singh Cheema, said on Thursday that during the two-day special inspection campaign conducted by the mobile wings of various districts at Mandi Gobindgarh, 107 vehicles have been impounded due to lack of e-way bills and other required documents

He said that after the evaluation of the goods being carried by these vehicles, the defaulters are likely to be fined more than Rs 2 crore.

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Cheema said during this investigation campaign on 23 August and 24 August, officers with the mobile wings were authorized to access business premises and the necessary records under Section 71 of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Act so that apart from vehicles plying on the road, they could also inspect business premises as well as scrutinize the required records.

Giving details about this special checking campaign, the minister said 55 vehicles were seized during the checking conducted by the mobile wings of Patiala, Ludhiana and the State Intelligence and Preventive Unit (SIPU) on 23 August. He said 52 vehicles were seized by the mobile wings of Ropar, Patiala and Shambhu till the afternoon of 24 August.

Cheema said after issuing the notice in these cases, the responses of the concerned firms and the goods being transported will be evaluated by the Tax Intelligence Unit to fix penalties against defaulters.
He said mobile teams of the tax department are on duty for 24 hours a day and on receiving information about large-scale tax evasion at any place, mobile wings of various districts are used to run a surprise operation to round up the tax evaders.

The minister said apart from this, the latest technologies and software are being used by the Tax Intelligence Unit (TIU) and Data Mining Wing to check GST evasion.

Giving a clarion call to the people of the state to be part of this campaign of making Punjab economically strong, Cheema said every citizen of the state must ask for a bill for the goods and services being availed by him.

He said the ‘Mera Bill’ mobile app has also been launched by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann led the Punjab government to encourage people to get bills for their purchases. He said anyone can win a prize of up to Rs 10000 by uploading the GST bill for the goods and services availed by him anywhere in the state.