Weavers staged a protest in front of the Salem Collectorate on Monday demanding withdrawal of GST hike on textiles.
Members of the Salem and Thiruchengode Circle Handloom Weavers’ Co-operative Societies Employees Union condemned the Centre for the steep hike in GST tax rates on textiles from 5% to 12%. They said that sale of handloom products has been affected due to COVID-19 pandemic and hike in yarn prices. They lamented that the hike in tax rates announced by Centre would severely affect the livelihood of weavers and sale of handloom goods.
They said that over 10 lakh weavers are dependent on this occupation at least three lakh families would be affected if the hike in tax rates is implemented.
