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Traders' strike hits Himachal

By Our Staff Correspondent

SHIMLA, MARCH. 31. Trade and commerce activities in Himachal Pradesh were completely paralysed today for the second day in succession as majority of business establishments remained closed. Only a few chemists in the State Capital and its surrounding suburbs remained open.

The effect of strike was felt more today after the State Assembly passed the Value Added Tax Bill 2005 yesterday evening amidst sharp protest by the opposition BJP in the House.

The Bhartiya Janata Party activists openly supported the striking traders and blamed the State Government for not making the conditions in the VAT Bill clear to the traders. There is a total confusion amongst the business and commercial establishments here on the implementation of this new tax law, said Sarabjit Singh, a shop owner on the fashionable Mall.

The tourists present in the hill town once again faced a grave problem due to the strike and majority of them preferred to stay indoors as dhabas and restaurants too remained closed and sightseeing could not be conducted. The inflow of tourists has also been affected. Only the tourist establishments run by the government owned HPTDC remained functional.

Meanwhile the President of PHDCCI, K.N. Memani, today maintained that VAT must be implemented in the country in order to make Indian Industry and trade competitive both at domestic as well as at global level.

In a statement issued today, he said, "India is entering into free trade agreement and regional trade agreement with various countries thereby encouraging free trade among the countries at low custom duty. Against this backdrop it is high time that VAT is implemented through out the country."

Mr. Memani said that VAT is a new system and an evolving legislation. "In the beginning we may face few problems. During the transition period all the stakeholders should have positive approach to implement the VAT in a mission mode," he said. Referring to the agitation of traders, he said that a cooling of period for keeping the penalties in abeyance be kept. This would help the government to understand the concerns of traders and traders would also be able to assess the factual situation.

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Traders' strike hits Himachal

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