BHUBANESWAR: Shops and business establishments across the state downed their shutters on Friday to observe the Bharat bandh call given by the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) protesting against the rules of Goods and Services Tax (GST) and other issues.
Markets wore a deserted look due to the bandh. Security personnel were deployed at several places of the state to control law and order situations and keep an eye on the anti-social elements. The bandh was completely peaceful across the state, police sources said.
Though road, rail and other communications were not affected on the day, the closure of shops and business activities in the market places across the state contributed to less vehicular traffic on the road. Medicine stores and filling stations were operating their business as usual as the CAIT had excluded these two sectors from the Bharat bandh.
Like Bhubaneswar, other cities including Cuttack, Berhampur, Rourkela, Sambalpur and Balasore have witnessed similar scenes. Some people also faced problems because of the Bandh. “I checked with several shops to purchase a vehicle spare part after the breakdown of my car, but I did not find one due to the Bandh,” said Laxmi Charan Sahu from Patia.
Sudhakar Panda, president of the Odisha chapter of CAIT, said the bandh was successful. “I am really happy that traders and their associations have observed the bandh peacefully across the state. The response was overwhelming and people spontaneously supported the bandh. Odisha has more than 20 lakh traders and 400 traders’ associations. Business of Rs 4000 crore was affected on Friday,” he added.
He said the GST rule should be simplified for the easy understanding and acceptance among the traders. “Traders should be given a chance to keep their views about GST. Harassment of traders by the government agencies should be stopped,” he added.
Panda said the Centre should seriously think about the e-tailers who are violating the e-commerce rules. “Because of this violation, the government is losing revenue. Predatory pricing, mindless discounts and other issues are creating problems for the existing offline shops,” he added.
Traders in Cuttack came out in a rally and submitted a memorandum to the government through the Cuttack district collector. Binod Chandra Sahu, leader of a traders’ body from Cuttack, said the Centre should pay heed to demands of the traders and simplify the GST.
Traders said e-Way bill collected from transporters is a regressive rule. Transporters have to cover the total journey at 200 km per day, from consignor place to consignee place which is not possible all the time because of factors like accident, part load consolidation, traffic congestion, driver personal issue and others.