At least 50 jewellery shops in Dimapur under the banner of Nagaland Swarna Silpi Samati Dimapur (NSSSD) have joined the nation-wide protest by jewellers against government’s proposal to impose 1 per cent excise duty on non-silver jewellery.
The jewellers at G.S Road, Dimapur have been protesting since March 12 last by shutting down their shops. During the protest, the NSSSD members held placards some of which read “A piece of jewellery is a piece of art, it cannot be excised”, “Roll back excise duty on gems and jewellery”, “More than one crore artisans may lose their job” etc.
Talking to Nagaland Post, NSSSD president B.B Debnath and secretary S.M. Soni said the shut-down would continue till March 17. Soni claimed the jewellers strike has affected lakhs of poor and middle class people.
Stating that people who were surviving on jewellery industry would suffer a huge loss because of government’s move, NSSSD said that not only jewellery showrooms but even small jewellers shop would suffer major loss.
NSSSD demanded that the Central government withdraw excise duty imposed by the Ministry of finance.
Jaitley rules out roll back
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, notwithstanding demands by allies and opposition and protest by jewellery traders, on Monday ruled out rollback of the one per cent excise on non-silver jewellery, saying the move was aimed to aligning gold with GST which he hopes will happen soon.
The protest by gold and jewellery traders entered the 13th day on Monday.
Stepping up the pressure, striking associations in different parts of the country have collectively decided to hold a protest rally at Ramlila Maidan on March 17 against the Budget proposal to levy 1 per cent excise duty on non-silver jewellery, All India Sarafa Association Vice-President, Surinder Kumar Jain told PTI.