Several garment traders in the State capital and other parts of the State kept their shops closed on Saturday to protest against the new tax slab of Goods and Service Tax (GST) imposed on clothing and other textile articles.. The protesters raised anti-Centre slogans and demanded the rollback of five per cent GSTT on clothing textile articles. GST is set to come into force on July 1.
With the shops remaining under shutters, the buyers at Paltan Bazaar and other markets were inconvenienced. Manisha, a buyer at Paltan Bazaar, said, “Along with her daughter I have come to Paltan Bazaar to purchase clothes for my daughter. But we are returning empty handed. I would have to come again.”
One of the protesters said that the traders are disappointed over five per cent GST on clothes which are essential items for the common people. “We hardly gain anything through selling clothes and if five percent tax is being charged on us we are finished,” said one of them.
The protesters said that they would not accept the five per cent GST on clothing items under any circumstances and would continue with the shutdown stir in the future.
Traders say there are complexities in the GST rates, especially on the man-made fabric (MMF) sector.
Another trader said that the GST requiring a lot of paper work, the small traders are going to face immense difficulties.
Among those who staged a sit in at Clock Tower were Anil Goyal, Umesh Aggarwal, Praveen Kumar and Anil Gupta.