Kashmir has been without internet since 5 August, when the central government scrapped Article 370 and carved two union territories out of J&K.

Srinagar: Businessmen in Kashmir who haven’t been able to file their GST returns since July now find their GSTINs (GST identification number) blocked. This has forced the government of the union territory to once again extend the deadline for filing the returns until 20 December.

Internet has not been restored in Kashmir since the 5 August lockdown. In November, the government set up internet kiosks at the offices of deputy commissioners in each of the region’s five districts to help businessmen file their returns. But because they hadn’t filed returns from August-November, the businessmen found their GSTINs blocked.

The last extension order was issued on 18 November, after the J&K administration acknowledged that only around 40 per cent GST returns were filed until that date.

The authorities admitted that the percentage of the returns filed this year was abysmally low, leading to a considerable dip in revenue collection.

“As even the returns for the month of July, August, September have not been filed by all taxpayers, it is requested that that the access to the internet kiosks located in your offices maybe allowed to the tax filers for at least 10 days (from 20 November to 30 November 2019),” the finance department had written to the deputy commissioners’ offices.

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‘A Himalayan task’

However, businessmen say filing at the kiosks is also a “Himalayan” task, given the long queues, shortage of time and low internet speeds. Some of them even called the ban on internet “deliberate harassment” of the public, since broadband services have been restored in the Jammu region as well as the newly-carved out union territory of Ladakh.

“Our GSTINs were blocked from generating e-way bills, which are created after details of a transaction are entered into the GST portal account of a taxpayer. Without the bill, record of the transaction cannot be maintained,” a Srinagar-based businessman told ThePrint.

“We approached the authorities, which eventually had to make some changes so we could file the returns. This seems like deliberate harassment. Why bother to extend dates knowing that our accounts had been blocked?”

Rajwant Singh, who deals in hardware, added: “I had one of my sons travel to Jammu and file the returns. There are lakhs of businessmen in Kashmir, and for filing of the returns, one needs at least half an hour. The facilities at the deputy commissioners’ offices would not have coped with the number of businessmen. How are we expected to file the returns with such limitations?”

Sheikh Ashiq, president of the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said deliberations between the body and the administration led to changes on the portal, including the unblocking of Kashmiri accounts.

A circular issued by the state taxes department on 4 December stated that a “ new functionality on the portal related to blocking/unblocking of the e-way bill generation” had been launched. The circular further stated that the functionality will be provided for a minimum extension period of 30 days for taxpayers who have not been able to file returns.

Ashiq, however, said the battle was only half-won. “We are hoping the new facilities are convenient for us to file the returns. But there are 70-80 per cent tax-payers who have not filed their income tax returns. We had written to the Union Finance Minister in this regard but haven’t heard from the ministry yet,” he said.

“Then, we also have to log our entries in the Registrar of Companies website. How will businessmen here be able to do all of these activities, which the authorities expect us to do, when internet remains shut?” he asked.

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