GST emerges as major poll issue for traders
Covid effect, Chinese locks hitting lives of workers in U.P.
— Abhishek Banerjee,
Akhilesh Yadav,
— Yogi Adityanath,
SP chief
TMC leader
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister
Aligarh (UP), April 24: High GST rates, pandemic effect and Chinese locks the triple whammy undercutting the livelihoods of thousands of workers and traders in Uttar Pradesh’s famed Tala Nagri’ has emerged as a major concern this election and voters are looking for a candidate who will pull the lock industry out of the slump.
The `4,000 crore industry of Aligarh, where lock making is likened to an art dating back to the Mughals, is not so robust anymore with shifting global market dynamics taking their toll. With LS elections just two days away, the clamour for decisive action that will save the livelihood of the estimated one lakh people dependent on the lock industry is growing. And at the centre of the problems, say industry insiders, are high GST rates, which in turn have led to a surge in Chinese lock imports.
“The steep GST rates have made it increasingly challenging for us to compete with Chinese locks flooding the market at significantly lower prices,” said Omvir Singh, owner of a cottage lock factory.
Traditionally a BJP supporter, Singh said he would however like to give another chance to BJP in the upcoming polls. “I was hopeful that the incumbent MP would be replaced because he did nothing for us in the past 10 years despite relying on our votes as we are his corevoter base but for Modi and Hindutva, I will give this government a last chance,” he said.
The country’s farmers, poor, youth and minority communities are standing together against the BJP and will ensure its defeat in the Lok Sabha polls,
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Congress will conduct a survey of people’s properties and then distribute it. They are making the caste census its basis, the chief minister said, claiming that the Congress has expressed such an intention in its manifesto. Congress’s intention has always been to gain power by any means. They want power at the expense of the country. For this, they will bring in Talibani tendencies in India that will cause barbaric atrocities of women.