Carrying on with their stir in the form of indefinite shutdown against the Centre slapping excise duty on gold and diamond-studded gold ornaments, the Dehradun-based jewellers would stage a mock funeral for Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday. By way of protest on Monday, they burnt Jaitley in his effigy. They raised anti-Centre slogans, venting anger on the issue. They said the shutdown stir would continue till the Centre revokes the imposition. The indefinite strike started on Wednesday last.
The protesters said that the Centre’s move would force many of them to shut down shops. “This is what is awaiting us as the duty imposed would affect our trade gravely,” said one of the agitated jewellers staging stir on the matter.
Members of several organisations like Sarafa Mandal, Jewellers’ Association of Uttaranchal, Dehradun District Jewellers Union and Uttarakhand Jewellers Union gathered at Saraswati Market, Dehradunon Monday and rallied till the Clock Tower while shouting slogans against the Centre. This, however, resulted in traffic getting caught in snarls, inconveniencing the commuters.
The members of the jewellers unions met in the evening and discussed the future course of action. They decided to carry on with the indefinite shutdown stir.
Jewellers’ Association of Uttaranchal (JAU) president Bipin Berry said that acting on the call for strike by Gem and Jewellery Federation, the jewellers across the state had kept their shops shut for the past six days. “We are worried as a bleak future is what is staring at us,” he said.
JAU vice-president Sunil Masson said that the Centre has been indulging in double-dealing. “While they are speaking volumes of liberalizing the trading norms to facilitate the traders they are, on the other hand, slapping things which contradict the basics of liberalization. We hoped that they would have lowered the custom duty on imported gold. However, the reverse is happening. This is unfortunate,” he said.
He further stated that the Centre is launching nothing short of a pincer attack on them by increasing the limit of requirement of PAN card for jewellery transaction from Rs two lakhs to Rs 10 lakh and by adding to it the excise duty. The entire jewellery fraternity would continue protesting against the Centre intent on curbing their trade, he added.
A protester Praveen Jain said that jewellery trade worth around `500 crore had been adversely affected during four days of the protest. The traders appealed to the Union finance minister to reconsider his budget proposals and have a favourable view towards their trade.