The jewellery shops of State capital are closed for last 13 days in protest against the Union finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s decision to impose 1 per cent excise duty on purchase of gold and diamond jewellery in the recent Union Budget. The move of the Union Government has irked the jewellers and they are on war path.
It is learnt that there are more than 700 shops of Goldsmiths in the State capital alone. It is estimated that the gems and jewelry industry has suffered a loss of Rs 100 Crores in Dehradun alone due to the strike. The President of the Jewelers association Pankaj Mason said that more than 8000 people are directly associated with the industry in Dehradun and the Government’s decision has put their livelihood at Stake. He said that the sale of jewellery has already dropped in last few months due to increase in prices and the decision of the Government to impose tax is like rubbing salt on the injury.
“My shop is closed for last 13 days; the Government’s decision to impose tax is unacceptable to us. It appears that the Government is preventing people from purchase of gold which is bad news for all of us. We are actually artists adept at molding gold into ornaments and instead of promoting us the Government is determined to destroy us,’’ said one of a Goldsmith. The strike is hitting the small shopkeepers, goldsmiths and lowly paid sales staff of the jewelry shops the most.
It is worth mentioning here that NDA Government too had proposed similar duty on gold in the year 2012 but it had to roll back its decision after protest by the jewellers.