The members of the Jewellers’ Association of Uttaranchal (JAU), who have been continuing with their stir for the past 26 days against the Centre slapping 1 per cent excise duty on the non-silver ornaments, vowed to teach the BJP a lesson in the next Assembly election in the State. They took their stir to the State BJP office on Sunday and warned the saffron camp that they would vote against BJP en bloc at the next Assembly election.
One of the protesters said that the Centre remaining unmoved by their continuing agitation was outrageous.
He also slammed the State BJP leadership for sitting idle. Meanwhile, five protesters- Shekh Qurban Ali, Santosh Panwar, Ashok Jadhav, Amol Por and Amit Sindhe sat on the rely stir going on for the past 19 days at Dhamawala.
The leaders of the jewellers’ stir said that the Central Government sapping one per cent excise duty on the non- silver ornaments has landed them in deep trouble.
The people continue to face difficulty to purchase ornaments with the jewellery shops in the city remaining closed due to continuing stir of the members of JAU.
Sarafa Mandal president Praveen Jain said that they have been protesting for the past 26 days, but to no avail. The Centre should immediately roll back the decision and raise the limit of requirement of PAN card for jewellery transaction from `2 lakhs to `10 lakh, he said. JAU vice-president Sunil Masson said they would continue their stir till the Centre withdraws excise duty on gold and diamond-studded gold ornaments.