“We had given the government time to consider our demands till July 15, failing which we are taking this step. We have also got letters of support from contractors from Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Punjab for the strike,” said Arvindbhai Patel, chairman of the association. (Representative Image) “We had given the government time to consider our demands till July 15, failing which we are taking this step. We have also got letters of support from contractors from Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Punjab for the strike,” said Arvindbhai Patel, chairman of the association. (Representative Image)

Over 5,000 contractors from across the state have announced to go on an indefinite strike from Sunday to protest against the 18 per cent tax imposed on the construction industry under the new GST regime. Earlier, the sector, which includes infrastructure projects of government’s PWD paid 0.6 per cent as tax for work contract and were exempted from other taxes related to road and building construction works

This is the second instance since June when Gujarat Contractors Association, the apex body of contractors, called for strike against the GST. “We had given the government time to consider our demands till July 15, failing which we are taking this step. We have also got letters of support from contractors from Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Punjab for the strike,” said Arvindbhai Patel, chairman of the association.

The indefinite strike could ground state government’s projects worth Rs 50,000 crore. “The GST regime has started affecting the ongoing projects. We have demanded that we should get impact fee along with the bills of each month for the ongoing projects that are being undertaken,” Patel added.

Textile traders march in Ahmedabad

Close to 50,000 people from textile sector took part in a rally in Ahmedabad on Saturday against the 5 per cent GST on cloth. After the rally, the protesters submitted a representation of their demands to the sales commissioner area. “Traders from Jaipur, New Delhi, Jamnagar and Jaipur also took part in the rally. We got support of traders from neighbouring markets like Ratanpol, Dhalgarwad and Dani Limbda,” said textile trader Dashrath Maheswari.

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