With the three-day strike called by the Bengal jewellers expected to end on Tuesday,they have decided to appeal to Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee for help. More than 10,000 jewellers across West Bengal had joined the strike against the alleged harassment of the traders by Income Tax officials. Pradip Ghosh,jeweller and president of Swarna Shilpa Bachao Committee,said: The Income Tax Department visited the showrooms and homes of some of the members and harassed them. They have been using foul language and misbehaving with us. We have a lot of unsold stock due to the recession and they want us to pay for those. We have all been hit by the recession but they are demanding such huge amount of money that even if we sell our shops we will not manage them. Ever since the UPA came to power at the Centre for the second time,we have been harassed in this way.
