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Guwahati/ Agartala, Feb. 26 (IANS): The Bharat Bandh call by the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) against the rising fuel prices, new e-way bill and goods and services tax (GST) evoked partial response in the northeastern states on Friday.
In Assam, majority of the shops and commercial establishments across all the 34 districts, including the main commercial hub Guwahati, remained opened barring some business establishments.
Vehicular movements were normal in all the districts, even as buses were seen plying in limited numbers.
However, a large section of traders and transport operators claimed that they were not aware of the shutdown call.
It was a muted response to the bandh in other northeastern states, even as many traders’ bodies supported the shutdown call.
All Tripura Merchants’ Association General Secretary Sujit Roy told IANS that thousands of their members have not participated in the strike.
Assam Chamber of Commerce (ACC) Secretary General Sisir Dev Kalita in a statement said that the recent GST amendments are a big threat to all business classes.
He said that if these amendments are implemented then it would bring doomsday to all communities.
“If these reforms are implemented, honest GST payers would be penalised without any fault of theirs. The new provisions of the GST would affect the middle class businessmen. Due to these provisions, even though the ITC (Input Tax Credit) available, a person or a taxpayer needs to pay GST at the rate of one per cent if the turnover is more than 50 lakh,” the ACC said.
Kalita added that this would affect the working capital of the businessmen and create division in the society.