Chennai, Dec 31 (BPNS)

Bharathiya Janata Mazdoor Maha Sangh Tamil Nadu state vice President, Dr. D. Ganesh profusely thanked Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and the GST council for not increasing the GST of textiles and apparels from 5% to 12% as proposed.

Ganesh while speaking to Bharathpost.com said that he had led a delegation of Kancheepuram silk weavers and merchants and traders to meet the Union Finance minister and apprised her of the difficulties faced by the industry if the GST is raised from 5% to 12%. He said that the industry would have been in shambles had the GST been raised and said that the Union minister could understand the difficulties faced by the Kancheepuram weavers as well as other weaving communities across the country.

Ganesh has in his memorandum drawn the attention of the minister towards the plight of the 1 lakh strong weaving community of Kancheepuram district as well as of the 2 lakh strong indirect workforce who are directly dependent on the industry for their existence. He had pointed out to the Minister that it would be curtains for the traditional handloom industry and weaving industry of the country if GST is raised to 12%.

Handloom researcher and Director of Centre for Policy and Development Studies, C. Rajeev also thanked the Union Finance minister and the GST council for not increasing the GST to apparels and clothes from 5% to 12%. The organization has been spearheading a movement on the upliftment of handloom weavers and had proposed both the Union government and the state governments to mandatorily announce Handloom as the school uniform clothes.