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Guwahati, July 16 : Assam government on Sunday announced to shut down all inter-state check gates in the state with effect from August 1, in view of reducing the transportation cost of essential commodities come from the other states and to check corruption.
 
Assam finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that, the state government has decided to abolish all check gates along the inter-state borders in the state and it is an in-principle decision.
 
'Assam to become first state in the country to shut down all check gates after implemented GST across the nation,' the Assam minister said.
 
'As a measure of goodwill, the government has decided to go beyond GST and abolish even those gates which deal with non-GST items. It is a systematic reform of the state government. We are moving towards closure the gates,' Sarma said.
 
'With the decision, the government will face a loss of revenue collection and several government departments like transport, excise, Agriculture Marketing Board will have to bear major losses in terms of revenue. To deal with, the state finance department has called a meeting on July 17 to discuss about the preventive measures of revenue collection loss,' the Assam minister said.
 
Himanta Biswa Sarma further said that, the state finance department will provide compensation to the departments and the final decision to take on July 17.
 
The Assam minister also said that, the state government also decided to reduce the excise duty in the state.
 
(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)