Protesting jewellers meet Sonia, demand duty roll back

New Delhi: Agitating jewellers and bullion traders today called on Congress President Sonia Gandhi to press for their demand for removal of excise duty on unbranded jewellery.

“We today met Sonia Gandhi and requested her to tell the government to roll back excise duty on unbranded jewellery, reduce customs duty and lower TDS on sale of jewellery,” All India Swarankar Sangh President Madhukar Chachad told reporters after the meeting.

[caption id=“attachment_268114” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Agitating jewellers and bullion traders today called on the Congress President to press for their demand for removal of excise duty on unbranded jewellery. Reuters”]  [/caption]

Gandhi, he said, “has assured us that she will forward our demands to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee for further action”.

Ahead of the meeting of jewellers with Gandhi, the Congress had asked the government to look into the demands of jewellers, who have been agitating for more than a fortnight.

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“Congress has asked the government to consider the demand of jewellers sympathetically,” AICC General Secretary and media department chief Janardhan Dwivedi said.

Jewellers in various parts of the country have been on a strike since 17th March to protest the hike in import duty on gold and imposition of excise duty on unbranded jewellery. The proposal was announced during Mukherjee’s Budget speech for 2012-13.

Delhi Jewellers and Goldsmith Association President Ram Avtar Verma had said yesterday that jewellers will decide on whether to end the strike or not after meeting the Finance Minister.

PTI