Cloth merchants oppose VAT

Vijayawada: Cloth merchants, under the auspices of the local Krishnaveni Wholesale Cloth Merchants Shopping Complex Welfare Association, staged protests in the city on Saturday, demanding withdrawal of Value Added Tax (VAT) on textiles. The textile shops in the city closed shutters as cloth merchants in Eluru Road, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Besant Road and One Town were out on to the streets to protest the imposition of VAT on clothes. They raised slogans against the government and it's VAT policy. The Krishnaveni Wholesale Cloth Merchants Shopping Complex Welfare Association general secretary Velampalli Ramachandra Rao said that they would intensify the agitation till the government announces withdrawal of VAT.