Jewellers strike – over 10000 shops across Gujarat remained shut

Ahmedabad

More than 10000 Jewellery shops and other related establishments across Gujarat remained closed today as part of the one day nation-wide token strike of over 300 associations of Jewellery traders to protest against union government’s decision making PAN Card compulsory for a purchase of Rs 2 lakhs and above.

Around 4000 such establishments in Ahmedabad, over 2000 in Surat and over 4000 others across the state including Rajkot, Jamnagar, Vadodara and various cities and towns remained shut.

The members of Ahmedabad Jewellers Association and others assembled in C G road here for the token protest. In Rajkot city, Bhupendra road near Kothariya naka, one of the hubs of jewellery business in Saurashtra, bore deserted look. Jewellers in the diamond city of Surat also assembled for the token strike.

The union government had implemented the new rule from January 1 this year.

The Jewellers are protesting it demanding complete waiver or relaxation in the purchase sum limit up to Rs 10 lakh for mandatory PAN.

They claim that the already slowdown hit jewellery business in the country has seen a drop of over 30% in a month owing to the PAN related restrictions.

The Jewellers all over the country are observing the token strike today.

As per an estimate the domestic industry is likely to grow to Rs. 5 lakh crore by 2018.