Gobindgarh, August 19: The arrest of All India Furnace Association chief KK Garg by DGGI officers in Ludhiana triggered widespread anger across Punjab’s industrial sector on Thursday.
Central tax authorities picked up KK Garg for detailed questioning regarding GST compliance before executing a late-night arrest. Industrialists across Mandi Gobindgarh and Ludhiana condemned the enforcement action, asserting that regulatory agencies are unfairly pressuring genuine steel manufacturers over third-party supply chain discrepancies.
Representing small and medium enterprises, World MSME chief Badish Jindal stated that business associations submitted a memorandum to the Union Finance Minister highlighting the adverse economic impact of Section 16(2)(c) of the CGST Act. He argued that primary buyers fulfill all invoice and tax obligations in good faith but lack the administrative means to audit previous transactions made by upstream scrap dealers.
Prominent furnace association officials affirmed that local steel manufacturers operate with full billing transparency and should not face criminal liability when intermediate suppliers commit fraud or vanish from official records. Industry leaders declared that the GST department must direct enforcement measures exclusively toward deliberate defaulters rather than victimizing compliant commercial buyers.
