As jewellers call off agitation,craftsmen heave a sigh of relief

Speaking to Newsline,Shamal Pal a craftsman who lives in Manimajra said: “The jewellers had been refusing to open their stores,turning away all customers. When we asked them,they said that the government has imposed heavy taxes on their trade. In the first week of the strike,we all somehow managed to survive on our acute savings. But none of us were left with any amount of money over the past two weeks”.

Another craftsman from Sector 23,Farooq Ali,said: “Most of the people in our community are from West Bengal. Our families depend entirely on our incomes for their living. My wife has not been able to submit my daughter’s (who studies in Class III) admission fee and the school has denied her entry and I was unable to find a way out”.

The jewellers have tried to pitch in. In order to help the craftsmen in paying off their debts,some of the jewellers in the city have decided to collect money and distribute it among all the craftsmen.

Neeraj Jain,owner of Nikka Mal Babu Ram Store in Sector 22,said: “The entire industry has been running into losses but we had no other option but to demonstrate our opposition,than shutting down our stores. However,since we realised that the back-end workers are being badly affected due to the strike,we planned to provide some financial aid to city-based workers”.

The industry had objected to four new provisions. The first is the increase in the import duty of gold. The duty has been increased from Rs 200 to approximately Rs 1,200 per 10 grams in the last five months. “This increases the price of gold for us. The disparity in price of gold internationally and in the local market will increase smuggling of the precious metal,” said Rakesh Talwar,Regional Chairman GJF.

Talwar added that a major part of the manufacturing cost are the labour charges given to the craftsmen. “The FM has announced service tax on the labour charges we pay the craftsmen.

This will further increase the cost. In addition to all this is the excise and the cash transaction tax imposed on us,” he said. “We are already paying Income Tax,VAT,service tax. It is unfair to burden the industry this way,and there must be a roll back,” he added.

Jewellery houses in city to
re-open today

CHANDIGARH: All gold,diamond and silver jewellery houses,across Tricity will re-open on Saturday,as the All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation (GJF) has called off its nation-wide strike till May 11. Regional Chairman GJF,Rakesh Talwar told Newsline that the Finance Minister (FM) Pranab Mukherjee has given a verbal assurance to the jewellers that their demands for a roll-back in the proposed excise duty on the trade will be met after May 11 – when the parliamentary session ends. The jewellers on Friday ended their 22-day strike,with the condition that if the Finance Ministry does not provide clarity on the policies and adhere to their demands,they will again observe an indefinite strike after May 11.