BHUBANESWAR: In the first such action ever since the Goods and Services Tax (GST) came into effect, the food supplies and consumer welfare department on Thursday conducted raids at some malls in the city to check whether they have been putting up the revised price tags and complying with the new tax structure.Officers of Legal Metrology raided two malls and found that the stores had not put up new GST price tag on their old stocks. They later issued notice to the manager of the retail stores for not following the Centre's guidelines."We have issued notice to the retail stores of two companies for not pasting new GST prices on the commodities, whose prices have decreased after the GST came into effect on July 1. According to the law, they will have to pay a fine of Rs 25,000," Anant Kumar Bhuyan , the controller of Legal Metrology, said.He said some traders put up the new price tags on only those products which witnessed a rise in cost. "But the same traders did not replace the old price tags in cases where the cost have come down. We have informed all the district collectors to keep a strict vigil on shops and malls. We have also informed the traders' associations to caution their members not to indulge in illegal activities like cheating people by not passing on the benefits of GST," Kumar added.Food supplies minister Surya Narayan Patro said the Centre has issued guidelines to dispose of old packaged food items lying in shops and stores by the end of September. "They have been told to sell those goods within the stipulated time frame only after pasting the GST price tag. If anybody violates these norms, we will take action against them," he added."I bought some rice and suji packets from a mall in Indradhanu market in Nayapalli , but I can't find any new price tag. Several shops in the city are still selling the old stocks without replacing the old prices," said Ritesh Behera, a private firm employee.The government has, meanwhile, asked to store owners to reduce the prices of commodities like rice, pulses, suji, wheat, flour, maida and edible oil because they have becomes cheaper in the new tax structure.

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