Jewelers strike for 12th day: Shops opened in Puducherry and some shops opened in T Nagar
Posted on: 14/Mar/2016 11:39:05 AM
The strike by jewellers continued for a 12th straight day yesterday throughout the country demanding withdrawal of the proposed excise duty on non-silver jewellery items. Some of the shops were opened in Puducherry and T Nagar.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech on February 29, proposed 1 per cent excise duty on non-silver jewellery. Due to this most of the jewellery houses in the country have remained closed since March 2. Around 2 Lakhs shops have been pulled the shutters down.
As the strike continued for the 12th day yesterday, more than 25 jewel shops in T Nagar was kept open. Because of this there was heavy crowd in these shops. At the same time the shops in Purasawalkam, Mylapore, Broadway and Washermanpet were closed. In Puducherry, the jewelry association has temporarily suspended the strike.
S. Santhakumar, secretary of Madras Jewellers and Diamond Merchants Associations said, From 2nd we have been striking throughout the country.We want the Central government to withdraw the re-imposition of 1 percent excise duty and mandatory PAN cards for any transactions from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. We have also mentioned a collateral idea to the Centre. The Central Government has assured that it will consider our decision. We are expecting some good news from there. Delhi will observe bandh on 17th March for the same cause in support of the jeweller.
