Uttarakhand - Cloth merchants observe bandh to protest VAT on cloth

Cloth merchants across the state today observed day-long bandh to protest against the imposition of VAT on cloth. The cloth merchants today assembled at clock tower area here and took out a rally shouting slogans against the state government for imposing 1 per cent VAT on cloths. President of Uttarakhand cloth merchant association Vinay Goyal said the imposition of VAT would not only adversely affect the business of cloth merchants but also promote the inspector raj as the merchants are mandatory to register themselves with the trade tax office. The VAT on cloth was imposed recently after the centre ended the additional excise duty on cloth and authorised the state governments to take the the commodity under the ambit of VAT, he said.