COIMBATORE: Minister for Registration and Commercial Taxes P Moorthy on Tuesday demanded the central government to exempt GST for rice bags.

“Poor people have been burdened because of the GST levied on rice up to 25 kg, which is commonly bought by all. This issue will be raised at the GST council,” he told reporters in Coimbatore.

Earlier, Moorthy addressed a meeting to create awareness on ‘Samadhan Scheme among traders from Coimbatore, Tirupur, Erode, Salem and Hosur divisions.

“For 95,000 traders with arrears, including tax, interest and penalty for up to Rs 50,000, the entire amount has been waived off completely. They need not file any declaration. Other traders and firms can pay a subsidised amount under different categories,” he said.

Further, Minister Moorthy said under the scheme, a total of Rs 20,000 crore has been waived off and traders need to pay only the remaining Rs 5,000 crore to the government.

“This is a historical achievement. The scheme will be beneficial to traders who are unable to pay loans over the last 12 years. Awareness is being created among small and marginal traders on the scheme,” he said. Stating that almost 90 per cent of traders are genuine and only 10 cent are evading taxes, he appealed to them to comply with laws to avoid facing action.