The Goods and Services Tax (GST) rolled out with much fanfare on July 1 across the country is casting its shadow on the Kanwad pilgrimage that has started on Monday. The pilgrims who have started thronging the holy city from the day one of the pilgrimage say that the prices of steel kalash (pot), commonly used for collecting Ganga water in, being raised post GST regime along with the hike in the cost of the attire used the Kanwadias - tee shirts and shorts- has left them in difficulty.
It is learnt that the items used during the pilgrimage are scarce in the markets with the retailers not placing orders with the wholesalers. The situation is such that the wholesale dealers based in Delhi and parts of Uttar Pradesh have not received any order over the past one week after the new tax regime was dished out.
Things in Haridwar are grim too with many of the traders based in Moti Bazaar having not registered themselves under the new tax regime. The suppliers from Bijnor and Najibabad say while talking to The Pioneer that the plastic toys and the decorative frills used for decorating the Kanwads are still not being booked by the retailers. Earlier, the bookings used to be done a month before the start of the Kanwad pilgrimage, they say.
A city- based trader Vipin Kumar said, “Most of the traders are refraining from buying the items from the wholesale dealers that requires proper billing. They are instead collecting things from those suppliers who are charging 10 percent more. This is causing an increase in the price of the goods.”
The steel kalash which used to cost Rs 150 is now being sold for Rs 175 and more. The marble idols and Shivalingas are costing up to 28 per cent more. While talking to this correspondent, a regular pilgrim from Ghaziabad Mukesh Kumar said, “There has been a 10 percent increase in the price of T-shirts. A simple cotton hosiery T-shirt with photo of lord Shiva printed on the front used to cost Rs 100 till last year. Now its cost varies from Rs 120 to Rs 150. We are of course at the receiving end of the GST rollout.”
A cloth merchant Rajesh Kumar who has a shop in the upper bazar near Har Ki Pauri says, “With a tax being imposed on the textile items by GST regime, the prices of the T-shirts and the like are bound to shoot up.”
However, the coordinator of Haridwar Vyapar Mandal, Kailash Keshwani assures that the volatility in the markets would end by the time the Kanwad mela reaches its peak around 15 July. “Once the normal volume of the supply resumes the prices would come into their right shapes. Now, the retailers are selling from their old stocks. Hence the volatility in the prices,” he added.