Nagpur: The traders from more than 30 cities, taking part in a state-level meeting organised by Aurangabad Zilla Vyapari Mahasangh and Marathwada Chamber of Trade and Commerce jointly on 21st January at Hotel Windsor Castle Aurngabad. Unanimously expressed their discontent about the various policies of the government.
Mahendrabhai Shah Chairman of Confederation of All India Traders presided over the conference , Mohan Gurnani Chairman of Chamber of Associations of Maharashtra Industry & Trade were Chief Guest & Dipen Agrawal President of Chamber of Associations of Maharashtra Industry & Trade (CAMIT) was Guest of honour.
The meeting saw representation from different trade organisations from all districts of the state.
The traders said that constant changing regulations of goods and services tax (GST), the decision to allow hundred percent FDI in retail sector, the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act, E-way bill and the various additional charges being levied by the banks are against the traders, farmers and the common man.
The participants registered a strong protest against these government policies and decided to reach out to the common people and raise awareness about them through district level meetings.
In the backdrop of Sunday’s meeting, to address the concerns of small traders, the trader representatives in the conference have decided to hold a state-level conference in Mumbai in March.
According to the traders, the business has already suffered losses due to un-favorable moves of the government but this meet was held to formulate plan of action to prevent losses in future.
Dipen Agrawal effectively raised the issue of e-way bill with an appeal to scrap e-way bill because it shall effect the free movement of goods inter & intra state & also said that e-way bill will increase harassment , corruption & inspector raj . He further submitted that Are we really GST ready ? GST being technology based tax were returns is to filed on GSTN portal which presently hangs on application being submitted for GST no.
& what about rural areas is the infrastructure such as computerisation & net connectivity available . He said government should have been sure of above before implementing GST & should not have shown undue haste. He further said that there is much need to form a state level GST Council consisting of trade & industry representatives to address implementation issues .
Mohan Gurunani said Market committees have become a corruption spot. Market committees were supposed to be for the welfare of farmers but are now exploiting farmers and businessmen both. Therefore, there is no need for the Expired Market Committee Act now hence APMC act must be abolished with immediate effect.
Ajay shah , outgoing President of Aurangabad Zilla Vyapari Mahasangh (AZVM) on delivery the introductory speech said that the aim is to put forward the traders concerns before the government ahead of the budget session.
If the budget addresses our concerns there won’t be any agitation. However, if that does not happen we will aggressively push our demands before the 2019. Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, ” shah asserted.
Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce Ex-President Viren Patel , Prafful Malani President Marathwada Chamber of Trade & Commerce , Jagannath Kale President Aurangabad Zilla Vyapari Mahasangh , Satyanaryan Lahoti ex-vice chairman Maharashtra chamber of commerce, Raju Rathi vice – president CAMIT & Mitesh Prajapati Jt.secretary CAMIT were prominently present in the meeting .
Mansingh Pawar ex-chairman Maharashtra chamber of commerce conducted the proceedings of the conference while Rajan Haujwala secretary Aurangabad Zilla Vyapari Mahasangh proposed the vote of thanks .
