Increase of GST will lead to price rise: traders
The Hindu
Dindigul The proposal of the Centre to increase the GST rates will lead to spiralling of prices of essential commodities, said president of Tamil Nadu Vanigar Sangangalin Peramaippu A.M. Vickramaraja.
Talking to reporters here on Wednesday after the Chamber of Commerce’s zonal executive meeting, Mr. Vickramaraja said that when GST was introduced, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the expectation of the Government was to collect ₹ 1 lakh crore. However, the present GST collection was ₹ 1.40 lakh crore.
"In this situation, scrapping the 5% GST slab and increasing the tax will lead to increase in the price of essential commodities," he said.
Stating that the Centre had not reduced the price of petrol and diesel, Mr. Vickramaraja said that there was a possibility of further increasing the price of fuel following the Russia-Ukraine war.
He said that the Centre should take steps not to increase the fuel price to prevent escalation of the price of essential commodities.
The federation was against the food safety officials taking penal action against shopkeepers.
The election authorities are gearing up for the counting of votes cast in the simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh, scheduled to be held on June 4. The Collectors and Election Officers of Visakhapatnam, Anakapalli and Alluri Sitharama Raju (ASR) districts said on May 23 (Thursday) that their teams were ready for the counting of votes.
Responding to the prolonged water scarcity, the residents of the area took to the streets in protest on Wednesday. The protest, which drew attention to their plight, stopped only after the intervention of the police. It was not until 1.30 p.m. that a 4000-litre tanker was finally delivered by BWSSB, providing relief to the water-starved residents.