Labour unions hold rally

Labour unions from the city and surrounding areas staged a rally at Chattar Singh park here on Tuesday to register their protest against the arrest of over 1,400 workers in Mansa. Rallies were held in other parts of the district as well. The mazdoor unions are demanding the release of these workers and quashing of “false cases” of land grabbing registered against the workers.

UCPMA wants fringe benefit tax abolished
United Cycles Parts and Manufacturers Association on Tuesday sent budget proposals to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Ludhiana MP Manish Tiwari. The members said that Fringe Benefit Tax should be abolished immediately as it is a tax on expenditure and not on income. Income is decreasing day by day because of economic reasons but the expenditure do not decrease proportionately. The other suggestion was about Import duty on finished goods,specially manufactured in small scale. The members said that it should be increased to protect the small scale industry but import duty on raw material should not be increased to avoid cartel within manufacturing companies.