The Jewellers’ Association of Uttaranchal (JAU) which has been spearheading the agitation along with others has called 12-hour Dehradun bandh on March 14 against the Centre slapping excise duty on the gold and diamond-studded gold ornaments. The protesters have started gheraoing the offices of the MPs from the State in support of their demands. They gheraoed the office of Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, member of Parliament (MP) from Haridwar and former Chief Minister of the State, on Friday.
It is learnt from sources that the office of Major General (reted) BC Khanduri would be gheraoed in the next phase. Meanwhile, Dehradun-based jewellers continued with its relay strike along with its shutdown stir against the Centre slapping excise duty on the gold and diamond—studded gold ornaments on Saturday. Sandeep Suryavanshi, Satish Misal, Vishwanath Shinde, Sandeep Panwar and Santhosh Waghmode sat on relay strike at the protest site near Sarawati Market. It should be mentioned here that the protesters on Friday had stopped link Express for a while as they staged ‘Rail Roko agitation’ at Dehradun Railway Station.
Meanwhile, they shouted slogans against the Centre while asking MPs to raise their concerns before the Centre.
Sarafa Mandal president Praveen Jain said that they have been protesting for the past 11 days with the Centre remaining unmoved. “Five MPs from the State are sitting idle,” he said, adding that the Centre should immediately roll back the decision and raise the limit of requirement of PAN card for jewellery transaction from Rs two lakhs to `10 lakh,” he said.
JAU vice- president Sunil Masson said that they have called City Bandh on March 14 to press for their demands. He said that acting on the call for strike by Gem and Jewellery Federation, the members of several organisations like Sarafa Mandal, Jewellers’ Association of Uttaranchal, Dehradun District Jewellers Union and Uttarakhand Jewellers Union have been keeping their shops shut for the past 11 days.
He said that their indefinite shutdown stir in support of their demand would continue till the Centre withdraws excise duty on gold and diamond-studded gold ornaments.