GST: Narendra Modi tells chief secretaries of all states to ensure traders register before 15 August

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday asked all chief secretaries to work expeditiously towards ensuring that all traders register under the GST regime before 15 August, a PMO statement said. He conveyed this while chairing a meeting of Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation (PRAGATI), a multi-modal platform through which he interacts with top officials of state governments via tele-conferencing. GST was rolled out on 1 July, ushering a new system of indirect taxes in the country. During the meeting, the prime minister also reviewed the progress towards handling and resolution of grievances related to the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) and the Directorate of Estates and asked the urban development ministry to proactively monitor the same, with sensitivity, the statement said. [caption id=“attachment_3806209” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Narendra Modi. PTI[/caption] He asked the CPWD to encourage all vendors to come aboard the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) platform, the PMO said. Modi also reviewed the progress of vital and long-pending infrastructure projects in the railway, road and petroleum sectors, spread over several states including Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Arunachal Pradesh. The projects reviewed on Wednesday include the Chennai Beach-Korukkupet third line and the Chennai Beach-Attippattu fourth line; the Howrah-Amta-Champadanga new Broad Gauge line. Four-laning of Varanasi bypass; four-laning of Muzaffarnagar-Haridwar section of NH-58 were also reviewed. “Noting that several of the projects reviewed today have been pending for decades, and in one case, over four decades, the prime minister urged all chief secretaries to take all possible steps to avoid delays, and resulting cost escalations,” the statement said. He emphasized on speedy implementation of such infrastructure projects, it added. The prime minister also reviewed the progress of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) and urged the concerned departments to accelerate the adoption of new construction technologies at the earliest, the statement said.