People find themselves in a bind to purchase ornaments as the jewellery shops in the city remain closed due to the continuing stir of the members of Jewellers’ Association of Uttaranchal (JAU) against the Centre for slapping 1 per cent excise duty on the non-silver ornaments. The protest entered its 18th day on Saturday with no possibility of Centre meeting the jewellers’ demand of withdrawing the excise duty.
Talking to the cross-section of the people, it is clear that they are now in a fix with the wedding season beginning next month.
Rahul Bisht, resident of Raipur said, “My son will marry next month and I wish to purchase jewellery for the bride. I am in problem as the jewellery shops have remained closed for many days. It is not clear when they would open,” he said, adding that the Centre should step in to have the stir called off.
Juhi, resident of Vani Vihar, echoed the same, saying that along with her friend, as she had gone to purchase earring for her she found all the shops closed. “The problem should be solved at the earliest,” she added. The stir of the jewellers continued as scores of JAU members took out a rally in the city on Saturday, raising slogans against the Centre and burnt the latter in effigy.
The protesters assembled at Dhamawala and rallied to Dilaram Chowk where they burnt the effigy. The protesters claimed that Shiv Sena members have thrown their weight behind their demand.
Earlier, they had gheraoed the offices of some MPs and sought their intervention in redressing their grievances.
Mention worthy, in its first, the protesters had stopped link Express for a while a few days ago as part of ‘Rail Roko’ stir at Dehradun Railway Station. Sarafa Mandal president Praveen Jain said that they have been protesting for the past 18 days with the Centre remaining unmoved. 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.