category vehiclesChandigarh, Dec 22 (PTI) Union Food Processing ministerHarsimrat Kaur Badal has requested Union transport ministerNitin Gadkari to exclude tractors used for agriculturalpurpose from being considered as commercial vehicles.
In a letter to Gadkari, Badal said that as per new rulestractors have been excluded from the category of non-transportvehicles.
She said that "this was having a detrimental effect onthe lives of lakhs of farmers in the country".
"This effectively means that tractors used foragricultural purposes will be treated at par with commercialtransport vehicles," she said in a release here.
Badal, a Bathinda MP, said that once this new law wasimplemented, all laws governing commercial vehicles would beapplicable on tractors, including requirement of permit,minimum educational qualification for driving, besides thefinancial constraint of higher GST which would go up from 12per cent to 28 per cent. Requesting the Union Road Transport and Highways Ministryto reconsider this decision, Badal said given the demographicprofile and economic condition of farmers in the country,especially in Punjab, which was an agrarian state, tractorsneeded to be kept out of the purview of commercial vehicles.
She said this was also needed because farmers werealready distressed and would be further burdened withincreased tax on tractors. PTI SUNKJ.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.