By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, March 31, 2016 : The Congress on Thursday created ruckus in the state Assembly here insisting for a debate on traders demanding exemption of 5 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) on essential commodities imported from outside states.

Seeking a ruling from the Speaker Niranjan Pujari for a discussion on the issue, the Congress legislators rushed into the well of the House creating noisy scenes. As chaos persisted despite his requests, the Speaker adjourned the House first at 12.40 PM and later till 3 PM.

Federation of All Odisha Traders’ Association (FAOTA) has been long since demanding exemption of levy of VAT on essential commodities-pulses, wheat and wheat products, sugar, rice and edible oil from other states. It has threatened to stop import of essential items from April 1 if its demand was not met.

The traders’ body has been demanding imposition of unitary tax instead of 5 per cent VAT on these items.

The FAOTA had also earlier threatened to stop the import of such items and in June 2015 following which the state government had formed a committee to resolve the issue and had promised to solve the issue within three months.

The state consumes about 67,000 metric tonnes (MT) of pulses and 12,000 MT of wheat products every month. A chunk of the consumption is imported from other states.

Meanwhile, the state government on Thursday formed a task force to deal with the situation.

“In view of the FAOTA’s decision to stop import of essential items from April 1, we have constituted a task force to ensure that common people are not affected they get all their required food stuffs. Talks have been made with National Electronic Marketing Limited for meeting essential items requirements,” food supplies and consumer welfare minister Sanjaya Das Burma said.