Chandigarh, June 15 Cloth merchants of the city held a protest in Sector 17 against the imposition of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on clothes. The one-day bandh call given by the association also witnessed mixed response. Cloth traders, along with their employees, gathered at the Plaza and held a silent protest holding placards with slogans against the government’s move. Arvind Jain, general secretary, All-India Federation of Cloth Retailers Association, said the protest was held to urge the government to waive off the GST on clothes. The GST would adversely affect the retailers and small-time vendors. More than 80 per cent of people buy their clothes from local merchants. Small-time merchants would be put to inconvenience as they do not have proper computer knowledge to upload bills and maintain accounts. It would put additional burden on the people. Traders want the government to insulate textiles from the tax. So far, textiles had been exempted from all sorts of taxes, said Arvind Jain. “The GST will be a bolt from the blue for us,” said a cloth merchant who participated in the protest. Jain said consumers would be burdened heavily if the tax was levied at every level such as wholesaler, dealer and retailer. Other leaders who took part in the protest included Madan Gulati, Narinder Sachdeva, Ajay Bansal and Devinder Singh.

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