Day-2: Cloth traders on roads against GST

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, June 28

The wholesale and retail cloth market traders under the banner of the Wholesale Cloth Merchant Association, Bathinda, continued their protest against GST for the second consecutive day here today.

They held a protest march and raised slogans against the Union Government. They kept their shops closed for the second day.

The protest march started from the cloth market and passed through Mall Road, Fire Brigade Chowk, Gandhi Market, Dhobi Bazaar, Court road, bus stand, Hanuman Chowk and concluded at the cloth market.

Vijay Kumar, president of the Wholesale Cloth Merchant Association, Bathinda, and others said with the imposition of GST, the problems for cloth traders would intensify.

The protesters said they were under fear and confused over GST.

A majority of cloth traders are not highly qualified due to which they will face problems in maintaining computerised records, they added.

They claimed that there was no proper information provided to them regarding this new tax.

Around 90 per cent cloth traders will have to hire computer operators to do the job, they added.

Traders claimed that with this new tax, their expenses would increase.

Small traders would not be able to sustain themselves and eventually, the workers employed at their shops would also go jobless, they said.

They threatened to intensify their protest after June 30 if their demands were not fulfilled. Traders say there are complexities in the GST rates, especially in the man-made fabric (MMF) sector.

While cotton attracts a uniform 5 per cent rate, the synthetic fabric attracts 18 per cent at yarn stage, 5 per cent at fabric stage and 5 per cent at the job-work stage.

Moreover, the option for claiming input tax credit (ITC) has been removed.