With the indefinite strike by jewellers entering the eighth day on Wednesday, a Kolkata-based organisation said that the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council has been invited by Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to discus their demands.
Mr. Mukherjee has invited the jewellers to meet him in Delhi on April 6, 2012 to discuss their demands, Ashok Begani, president, Calcutta Gem and Jewellers’ Welfare Association, told PTI in Kolkata on Wednesday.
Members of the association are on an indefinite strike in protest against increase in import duty and excise duty on gold.
Mr. Begani said that if there was any rollback on the import and export duty hike, “We will celebrate, otherwise we will intensify our agitation.”
Mr. Begani said if the Centre refused to rollback the duty hike, the association members would hold a token hunger-strike in Kolkata on April 7, 2012.
“We may have to go for indefinite hunger-strike if the Centre refuses to concede our demands,” he said.
