APMC yards shut to protest GST on foodgrains

Mysuru: The state-wide bandh called by the traders of the Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) was successful at the APMC yard in Bandipalya in Mysuru city. The commission agents, traders, labour unions had called for a bandh to protest the central government’s decision to levy 5% Goods and Services Tax (GST) on rice, wheat, pulses and other food grains. All the four blocks of the APMC yard in the city, including the auction yard that is always busy, was closed from the small hours in the morning.
Members of the Mysuru Grain Merchants’ Association, which had extended support to the bandh, shut down their stores at the yard in Bandipalya, demanding the reversal of the decision by the central government. Pointing out that levying cess on food grains would make them dearer for the underprivileged, the merchants sought to remind the Centre that they had been exempted from taxation since 1983. They further pointed to the financial duress the people were already under owing to the rise in price of petrol, diesel and cooking gas. The cost of one quintal of rice could rise, they fear.