A massive rally to protest against imposition of GST and alleged police highhandedness was organised by textile traders in Surat on Saturday.
The rally was attended by thousands of traders and those who are associated with thriving textile industry of South Gujarat’s commercial capital Surat. They shouted slogans against imposition of GST and baton charges of police last week in which some traders got injured. Some of the traders also took off their shirts and were seen parading half naked in the rally.
Traders showed their protest by wearing black scarf around their neck and black ribbon on their shoulders. The rally was joined in by Hitesh Sanklecha, a textile trader who has been on an indefinite hunger strike since Monday to protest against police lathicharge on traders and GST.
According to the traders despite their repeated representation in Gandhinagar as well as New Delhi, their problems were ignored and eventually GST implemented. Ruling BJP on its part trying hard to pacify the agitation as early as possible as Union Minister of State Mansukh Mandavia held meeting with the traders on Friday. He, however, couldn’t succeed in his purpose fully but some traders seemed to be contended following his assurance to take the demand of traders for one year moratorium on strict implementation of the new tax regime to GST council.
It is worth mentioning that Surat is one of the biggest textile hubs in the country. Apart from silk and cotton mills, Surat is the biggest centre of man-made fibre in India. There are over 41000 power-loom and nearly 400 dyeing and printing units in and around the city with the overall annual turnover of more than five billion rupees.
Around 1,000 cloth wholesalers are active in the city who are doing business across the globe. The city produces 10million meters of fabric annually which accounts for 60 per cent of the country’s total production.