Demand to abolish GST on Textiles; strike on for 5th day

In Gujarat, Textile traders in Ahmedabad launched an indefinite strike from Monday to mount pressure on the government to roll back 5 per cent GST on cloth.

Erode/Ahmedabad Jul 10: Around 5,000 textile producing units and retail shops and more than 20,000 powerlooms in Erode district of Tamil Nadu remained closed for the fifth consecutive day, demanding the abolition of GST on textile goods.

The protesters, under the aegis of Erode Cloth Merchants Association, formed a Human chain in the main street here where hundreds of textile shops are located.

Meanwhile, some office bearers of the Association left for Chennai to represent their plea to the Chief Minister The traders claimed they had incurred a loss of Rs 150 crore due to the stir and that there were huge stocks of unsold textiles in their shops, godowns and factories.

However all 150 Textile shops inside the Mohammed Abdul Gani Market here functioned as usual.

In Gujarat, Textile traders in Ahmedabad launched an indefinite strike from Monday to mount pressure on the government to roll back 5 per cent GST on cloth.

The decision was taken on Sunday during a meeting of traders associated with three major textile markets in the city, including Maskati Cloth Market Association, New Cloth Market and Panchkuva Cloth Market, a release by these associations said.

"5 per cent GST on cloth is not acceptable to anyone who is in the textile business. To raise our voice against this tax, all the textile markets in the city will go on indefinite strike from tomorrow, as traders will refrain from any kind of transaction," the joint statement said.

Textile traders in Surat are already on an indefinite strike for last one week. Yesterday, thousands of traders took part in a massive rally to protest against the 5 per cent GST rate.

Union minister Parshottam Rupala today asked traders to engage in talks with the Centre to resolve the issue instead of staging protests.

"The intention of rolling out GST was to give a boost to trade and business, not to harass people. I agree that traders are agitating because they are facing some problems due to this new tax structure. But, the issue can be resolved with dialogue with the government," Rupala told reporters here today.

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