Lukewarm response to Bharat bandh call in Ludhiana

Tribune News Service
Ludhiana, February 26

The one-day nationwide Bharat bandh call given by traders evoked a lukewarm in the city today.

A majority of the big and small markets, shopping Malls and other business establishments in the city remained open and there was no strike-like situation.

The bandh call was given by the Confederation of All India Traders against the rising fuel prices and provisions of the GST.

Harkesh Mittal, president, Confederation of All India Traders, Punjab, submitted a memorandum to the authorities in the Sales Tax Department in this regard. Though the president claimed to have got a good response by traders in the district, barring a few traders, none of the shopkeepers in bazaars, including Ghumar Mandi, Bhadaur House, Chaura Bazar and BRS Nagar, downed their shutters to support the call. A few shops in Books Market and the Kesar Ganj complex were shut for some time, but later many of these were opened too.

Mohinder Aggarwal, president, Punjab Pradesh Vyopar Mandal, here said that the Vyopar Mandal had nothing to do with the bandh call and most of the shops remained open.

At the same time, Aggarwal said a memorandum was submitted in this regard to the authorities alongwith the Confederation of All India Traders. He said the “cumbersome” GST process and rising fuel prices were a cause of concern to the common man and the government should resolve these issues.

A detailed memorandum was submitted to invoke immediate attention of the authorities towards the “most dismal, deteriorating and dilapidated condition” of the GST taxation system, which had emerged as one of the most complicated tax systems in the country much against the vision of the BJP to make it a good and simple tax.

Gauri Shankar, a salesman at a shop in Ghumar Mandi, said the market was open throughout the day and nobody even came for getting the shops closed. “Most of us do not know that it was a call for Bharat Bandh,” said the salesman.