Vadodara traders observe bandh, say Modi fooling them

Vadodara, Jun 7 (UNI) Under the aegis of Vadodara Vyapar Vikas Mandal (VVVM), shops and business establishments today observed a bandh here in protest against octroi tax.

''Chief Minister Narendra Modi is trying to fool the business community by his announcement yesterday that octroi will be abolished from seven civic corporations with effect from Labh Pancham day on November 14 this year, when the electoral process would be on and Election Commission's code of conduct will be in full force,'' VVVM president Motichand Shah told UNI.

It is a clever attempt by Mr Modi to wash off his hands from the whole affair, he said adding, ''why wait until Labh Pancham when the abolition can be done much earlier.

Several associations like stationery, scrap merchants, cycle merchants, kirana merchants, masala merchants, charitable association, plywood dealers, sweet manufacturers and Vadodara lawyers association participated in the bandh.

Gujarat Cabinet had met Chief Minister Narendra Modi yesterday and mooted ''in principle'' the resolution to abolish octroi from November 14 in seven civic corporations -- Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Bhavnagar and Junagadh -- which generate cash in-flow of about Rs 1,800 crore per annum.

UNI