CUTTACK: A two-day shutter down to start with, textile traders and merchants in the State have threatened to stop imports if the Government did not withdraw the order on 4 per cent VAT on textiles and fabrics. Accusing the Government of not fulfilling its promise of withdrawing the VAT order, textile merchants across the State on Tuesday held demonstrations in front of the offices of the Commercial taxes. They would hold a rally in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday and decide on the future course of action. The agitation, though, has been marked by divisions within the ranks as the Federation of All Orissa Traders Associations (FAOTA) and the sugar traders under it have stayed away from it. While the textile traders today staged a dharna at the Commercial Tax Commissionerate here today, the latter said that they were ready to give the Government more time to act on the issue. The Government had on May 3 issued the order imposing 4 per cent tax on sugar and textiles (both clothing and fabrics) with retrospective effect from April 8. Taken aback by the order, the traders had submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik stating that it had violated the very principles of VAT as it would lead to putting heavy burden on the customers. In no other state, including neighbouring West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh has VAT been imposed on textiles and sugar. The situation would lead to illegal infiltration of commodities from the neighbouring states, harming domestic trade and causing loss of revenue to the State exchequer. “The consumers would have to pay higher prices to the tune of at least ` 20 extra for a cotton saree and ` 40-50 for fancy ones while sugar price would be jacked up by a minimum of ` 2”, president of All Orissa Textile Merchants Associations Rabindranatha Mohapatra said. Mohapatra said that the Finance Secretary in a meeting on the issue on May 21 promised action but it was not forthcoming. On the contrary, FAOTA general secretary BK Mohanty said that the Secretary had promised that the tax collections would not be done until a final decision has been taken by the Government. “The VAT is not collected nor are traders harassed now. We are willing to allow some more time as the Finance Minister is not in the State,” Mohanty said.
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