Now, Traders Demand Aid, Threaten to Go Farmers’ Way

The trading community, under the banner of the Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal, has warned of stir on the lines of the farmers’ agitation in case the government did not give them aid to come out of the depressing economic situation which emerged out of Covid-19 and the lockdown.

This was announced in a meeting of the PPBM’s working committee in which members of state’s 18 districts took part that was held here last night. On the line of income tax relaxation for the corporate companies, the PPBM sought similar measure for the partnership and proprietor companies.

It sought an end to discrimination in the income tax slab between the corporate sector, MSME and traders should be removed. The financial stimulus reduced the income tax slab rate from 30 per cent to 22 per cent for the corporate companies. However, the same was denied to the companies under the MSME. Eight per cent reduction will help the sector and traders, who had suffered a lot due to the pandemic, to overcome financial crunch.

During a meeting, they sought more relaxations to fight Covid-19 and its lockdown effects. They warned that if the government did not pay heed to their demands, they would be compelled to kick off an agitation.

PPBM president Piara Lal Seth said the pandemic, along with the lockdown, brought down the country’s growth which was reflected in 23.9 per cent fall in the GDP during the quarter of the current financial year. Uncertain scenario and snapping of the supply chain affected the industrial production and trade. Consequently, unemployment is at its highest level in the country. The government did not put in any effort to bring down the rising inflation. For instance, despite the price of crude oil kept falling in the international market, its benefits were not allowed to percolate to the masses by increasing the tax slabs, he remarked.