50 lakh business units down shutter, trade worth ₹10kcr hit
GST ROLLOUT Traders protest the tax reform, say it is being implemented without preparations
More than 50 lakh business establishments in Rajasthan remained closed on Friday in protest against the implementation of Goods and Service Tax (GST) “without preparations”. Owners of the business establishments demanded amendments to GST rules.
There were reports that business worth more than ₹10,000 crore was affected due to the Friday bandh, jointly called by the Federation of Rajasthan Trade and Industry (FORTI), Rajasthan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Jaipur Vyapar Mahsangh and Rajasthan Khadya Padarth Vyapar Sangh.
FORTI general secretary Vijay Garg said that businessmen kept their shops closed in the interest of the community for the first time in the country.
“Everyone has demanded that GST rules should be simplified, returns should be filed quarterly and rates should be reduced,” FORTI president Suresh Agarwal said.
Jaipur Vyapar Mahasangh president Subhash Goyal and general secretary Harish Kedia said the way even small traders took part in the bandh “clearly” indicates that there is an “atmosphere of fear” among them.
In Jaipur, traders and businessmen gathered at Badi Chaupar and staged a sit-in and later addressed a meeting explaining the adverse effects of GST.
In Bharatpur, traders carried out a rally shouting slogans against the central government and staged a sit-in at the district collector’s office. Later, they submitted a memorandum, addressed to the President, to the district collector, Narendra Kumar Gupta.
They demanded amendments to GST provisions.
“Implementation of GST will boost corruption and inflation. The common man will have to face the brunt of GST,” said Sanjeev Gupta, district president of the traders’ association.
The businessmen said that they will also burn the union government’s effigy at midnight on Friday when the government rolls out GST . There were reports of “total bandh” in Alwar district, which was “peaceful”.
In Udaipur, members of the business community gathered at Surajpole Circle and took out an anti-GST rally. The protestors shouted slogans against the government and called the GST “a curse for small scale traders”. A delegation of Bharatiya Udyog Vyapar Mandal (BUVM), New Delhi, met union minister of state for finance Santosh Gangwar on Friday over the problems of provisions of GST and its rates and solution for the same.
Apart from Gangwar, union minister of state for finance Arjunram Meghwal, IAS officer Hemant Jain and others were present at the meeting.