SURAT: Nine powerloom weaving sector leaders including president of Federation of Gujarat Weavers’ Association (FOGWA), Ashok Jirawala were detained by Surat police when they created ruckus at the textile exhibition event inaugurated by Union Textile Minister, Smriti Irani on Friday.Union Minister of Textiles, Smriti Irani was in the city to inaugurate Source India-2018 textile exhibition at the Surat International Exhibition and Convention Centre (SIECC) at Sarsana when the powerloom industry leaders demonstrated and shouted slogans against Irani.The powerloom weavers shouted ‘Smriti Irani Hai Hai’, ‘Hum Bhikh Nahi Mangte, Haq Mangte Hai’ (We are not begging, we want our rights’.Powerloom weavers gathered at the entrance of the convention hall at Sarsana with black ribbons and shouted slogans against Smriti Irani for her failure in resolving the long pending issue related to the refund of the input tax credit (ITC) on Friday.FOGWA president, Ashok Jirawala who was detained along with eight other powerloom sector leaders told TOI, “Since the minister was in Surat, we had asked for the prior appointment to discuss the ITC issue. There was no response from her ministry on the meeting. It seems that the Government of India and textile ministry have made up their minds to harass the powerloom sector”Jirawala added, “We are not begging, but demanding our rightful share from the government, which we have paid on the input services. The government owes us Rs 500 crore and that they cannot ignore our demand”From the last few days, leaders of the powerloom sector have been running the campaign in the city urging the weavers not to file the GST return to protest the government’s stand on the ITC. Banners have come up in various industrial societies across the city asking the weavers to boycott the GST return.Ashish Gujarati, president of Pandesara Weavers society said, “Even the Gujarat high has given interim stay on retrospective amendment of change in refund provision by the government for inverted duty structure on inputs and not on input services. This clarifies further that the demand of weavers for refund of unutilised credit is genuine”

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