STATE TIMES NEWS
NEW DELHI: A delegation of striking jewellers representing All India Bullion Jewellers and Swarnkar Federation (AIBJSF) on Friday called on Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Dr Jitendra Singh and sought his intervention to end the 31-day old indefinite strike by them against the government’s decision to impose Excise Tax on jewellery trade.
In a memorandum presented to Dr Jitendra, the members of the delegation submitted that the Excise Tax would be causing harassment to them and also impediment for their business. They said that since 2nd March, jewellery traders all over the country are on an indefinite strike which is causing enormous hardship and therefore, an early solution should be found to end this impasse.
The jewellers also submitted that they are in favour of an amicable solution and requested the government to initiate a dialogue with an open mind. They reiterated their demand that the government should announce suspension of levy of 1 per cent Excise Duty on jewellers till a Committee constituted by the government submits its report.
The jewellers also further appealed that the government should take trade organizations into confidence and draw policy guidelines under which problems of traders in generating more revenue could be thoroughly discussed. Since the issue involves livelihood of crores of people including not only traders but also artisans, skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled labour, jewellery designers, converters and other verticals of jewellery trade, it is necessary to discuss the issue in depth, they said.
Dr Jitendra gave a patient hearing to the delegation and said that he would forward their memorandum and inputs to the Union Finance Ministry.
Among those who accompanied the delegation were AIBJSF President Ram Avtar Verma and General Secretary Yogesh Singhal.
