Bandh call for a simple GST gets mixed response

Ludhiana: The daylong bandh call by the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) evoked a mixed response in the city on Friday as only a few markets closed and that too briefly. Confusion prevailed among several residents who were under the impression that public transport will also remain closed.
Office-bearers of CAIT claimed the bandh was hugely successful, and in accordance with the call given by confederation’s Punjab unit, dozens of businessmen, led by state president Harkesh Mittal, submitted a memorandum of demands to Tejbir Singh Sidhu, deputy commissioner, state tax, Ludhiana division.Businessmen also offered several suggestions regarding changes required in the GST laws and Sidhu assured them these would be conveyed to the senior officers.
Speaking to the TOI, Mittal said, “The nationwide bandh call given by our association has been very successful everywhere, including Ludhiana. A large number of shops in city markets remained closed and at some places these were partially shut. We got the best response in areas like Kesar Ganj, Books’ Market, Sabun Bazaar and other Old City markets. The success of the bandh can be gauged from the big size of our delegation that went to meet the state taxation department officers. It included people from all walks of life.”
Mittal said they were against the harsh provisions under GST and the ever-increasing complexities in this law, which were making doing business impossible. “No businessman is against taxation, but how can the government expect us to comply with the system that even their officials are unable to understand even after three years. Through the bandh we only wanted to make the government aware about these complexities and seek GST simplification.”
Gurdeep Singh Gosha, Ludhiana president of Youth Akali Dal, said, “The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) fully supported the bandh call and shopkeepers and traders associated with our party kept their shops and offices closed. Our workers also convinced other businessmen to join the protest against highhandedness of the Centre. We have conveyed to the CAIT that our party stands with the business community and could even hit the roads in their support.”
Harvinder Pal Singh, a cloth merchant from Akal Garh Market, said, “Though not all the shops in our market were closed, we decided to keep ours shut for half day as the reason for the bandh was justified. We are indeed suffering a lot due to the complexities of GST and it needs to be simplified at the earliest.”