Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The cloth traders have intensified protest against governmentís move to increase GST on retail cloth from 5% to 12% by cutting off power supply from their shops for 20 minutes every evening, said Kanhaiyalal Israni, the president of wholesale cloth tradersí association in Bhopal.
The wholesale and retail cloth traders in the city beat utensils as a sign of protest during blackout hour. Their purpose is to make their voices heard.
'We have been putting up hoardings across the city to raise awareness about hike in GST and urging people to support us. Starting Tuesday, we will be hanging black cloth outside our shops,' Israni said.
'After our state-level meeting last Tuesday in Indore, we were told by the finance minister that our concern will be raised at the meeting of finance ministers of all the states with the union finance minister scheduled to be held on December 30,' he added.
The local cloth traders also met Bhopal MP Pragya Thakur and urged her to raise their issue in Parliament once again. Likewise, the cloth tradersí associations in their respective districts also met their local MPs, urging them to take their matter to the representatives at centre.
