Discuss dangerous impact of GST, demonetisation: Ex-CM

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 11

Former CM Harish Rawat today said the suicide by a transporter at the BJP office here should open everyone’s eyes to the impact of demonetisation and the GST on the lower-middle class.

Prakash Pandey, a resident of Haldwani, had consumed poison in front of state Agriculture Minister Subodh Uniyal last week during a Janata Darbar programme and had recounted his story before him.

Harish Rawat, while addressing mediapersons at the Congress Headquarters here today, said both the government and the Opposition should come together to discuss the dangerous impact of these measures. He said the lower-middle class in the state had weak economic foundations and was the most vulnerable to such steps.

Rawat demanded that the Uttarakhand Government should conduct a study on the impact of note ban and the GST. He alleged that development had come to a standstill in the state. “Whenever the issue is raised by the Opposition, the current dispensation begins chanting about empty coffers,” he said.