Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has once again hit out at the Centre, calling its 'demonetisation drive" an act of devil that led to the loss of nearly Rs 3 lakh crore to the GDP.
In a social media post, the Chief Minister said, "Crores of workers, particularly in the informal sector, lost their jobs. Several farmers were left to starve and over 100 people lost their lives.”
Mamata accused the BJP of using note ban to their own interest, saying demonetisation was a big scam, and it will be proven so, only if a thorough investigation was carried out.
"We believe that the note ban was done not to combat black money but to convert black money into white money for vested interests of the political party in power. Black money became ‘white fund’ for them and the country was plunged into darkness.”
She claimed that economy had suffered a lot and growth rate was affected badly because of demonetisation.
“The GDP fell to 6.1% growth in between January and March 2017 compared to 9.1% in the previous year. It further plummeted to 5.7% between April and June 2017, compared to 7.9% in the previous year. More than 75,000 industrialists were compelled to leave India and settle abroad and become NRI because of harassment in the prevailing situation.”
Meanwhile, West Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra wrote a letter to the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley condemning the sufferings of small industries, including handloom workers, due to the hurried implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Referring to the hardships faced by the business community, he said:“In Surat alone, 90,000 out of the 7 lakh handlooms had to be sold at throwaway prices, as there is little business to be done now. People are angry because of the price hike. Even bigger traders are unsatisfied due to complexity in return filing under GST. As a result, the filing of returns, which was 80% in July, has dropped to 60% in August.”
“Post-GST many household consumer items have fallen under the 28% bracket of the GST. Apart from cigarettes and other tobacco items, the 28% bracket should be changed to 18%,” he said.
He also pointed out that the consumer items falling under the 18% tax bracket should be brought under the 12% bracket.
Ever since the announcement of demonetisation on November 8, 2016, Trinamool Congress has not just protested against the drive but also demanded its withdrawal.
On Wednesday, TMC will observe a "black day" across the state against demonetisation.
Comments
0 comment