Members of the CPI, CPI (M) and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) on Tuesday staged a demonstration at Jawaharlal Nehru Street-Mahatma Gandhi Road junction condemning the autocratic manner in which Goods and Services Tax (GST) had been rolled out by the Centre.
The agitators led by R.Viswanathan, of the CPI, raised slogans against the Centre. He said that industrialists had not been able to start enterprises in the Union Territory and those that were functioning were on the way out. The Central Government grant has also come down from 70% to 30% since 2009 resulting in critical financial situation.
The parties also demanded the Centre to include Puducherry in the list of States with a low manufacturing basis. Any new system should be adopted only in agreement with the Treaty of Cession through which Puducherry became part of the Indian Union, he said.
