Aurangabad Jilha Vyapari Mahasangh supports jewellers agitation

AURANGABAD: Aurangabad Jilha Vyapari Mahasangh (AJVM) has extended unconditional support to jewellers who are opposing the union government’s recent decision to levy excise duty on jewellery. The decision was taken at a joint meeting of office-bearers of the AJVM and Aurangabad Sarafa Association held here on Saturday evening. For the past few days jewellers across the country are demanding the union government to roll back levy of excise duty on jewellery.

The office-bearers of the AJVM have assured the jewellers that all the traders in the district would participate in the agitation against the government’s decision.

Earlier Rajendra Mundalik – president of the Aurangabad Sarafa Association said, “the imposition of excise duty is not only pushing the jewellers in the dark but it is also making difficult for the innocent workers to earn their bread and butter. And thus the almost all the workers associated with the trade are also participating in the agitation.”

About 250 members of the Association on have recently staged demonstrations in the city and some of them performed mass ‘mundan’ (head shaving) to mark the protest.

Jaitley in the Union Budget for 2016-17 had proposed 1% excise duty on jewellery without input credit or 12.5% with input tax credit on jewellery excluding silver other than studded with diamonds and some other precious stones. However, Mundalik said that the government has made the process quite complex. “We want a simple and hassle free system in place,” he added.