Industrialists to observe token bandh on Tuesday

November 16: Industrialists and traders all over the state of Maharashtra will ovserve a token bandh on Tuesday to protest against the imposition of five per cent service tax by the centre. Describing the tax as draconian, the Federation of Associations of Maharashtra (FAM) has called upon traders, industrialists, service providers and newspaper publishers to down their shutters and compel the Union Government to withdraw the service tax, which will be imposed from tomorrow.

According to a press release issued here, the federation has urged Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral to appoint a committee to investigate into the far-reaching implications of the tax and requested him to postpone enforcement of the service tax. Earlier, the Federation of Associations of Maharashtra had requested Finance Minister P Chidambaram to reconsider the imposition of service tax. The assiciation added that in the final analysis, it was the consumer who would suffer.