Textile traders across Prakasam district observed a bandh on Thursday in protest against the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on cloth.
The traders, led by Ongole Cloth Merchants’ Association president R. Venkateswarlu and secretary B.K. Babu, took out a procession from the Bapuji Market complex to the Church Centre here raising slogans in support of their demand to do away with GST which, they said, would jack up the price of cloth at every stage of the value chain and render the workers in the sector jobless.
“We have no objection to imposition of GST at the level of textile manufacturers. But GST at the retail level will put to hardship the retailers as also the common people ,” Mr. Venkateswarlu said and feared harassment of small-time cloth merchants and vendors by officials over book keeping.
Indefinite strike
''We will have no option but to go on a strike from July 1 if our demand falls on deaf ears,'' Mr. Babu said.