Commuters at receiving end as jewellers intensify protest
CHANDIGARH: Intensifying their stir against the Union government, jewellers on Monday blocked road and rail traffic at various places in Punjab, causing inconvenience to commuters.
In Amritsar, local jewellers and goldsmiths forced the Amritsar-Howrah Express to halt at the Shivala railway crossing where the protesters staged a dharna on the railway tracks. The blockade that started at 11am lasted for an hour and a half.
The protesters, raising slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and finance minister Arun Jaitley, said: “We don’t want ‘acche din’ (good days) that have ruined us. Give us back our ‘purane din’ (old days),”said Amritsar Sarafan Association leader Anil Jain.
Members ofJa landh ar Sarafan Association blocked the Company Bagh Chowk, leading to traffic jam at the city’s centre point. Naresh Malhotra, the association’s president, said from Tuesday, the association would start holding protests outside the houses of local MLAs of ruling SAD-BJP government.
In Rupnagar, the jewellers blocked traffic on national highway near Solkhian village. Former MLA Rana KP Singh supported the demands of the jewellers and criticised the central government for not accepting the demands. In Bathinda, Raj Kumar Sood of Sarafan Association said all traders of Bathinda, Mansa and Barnala districts had given assurance to close their shops for a day in support of the protest on Tuesday.
In Batala, hundreds of jewellery traders gathered at Nehru gate and later held a protest march that passed through vari- ous markets of the town. They also burnt effigy of the finance minister. HARYANA JEWELLERS WARN OF BIGGER STIR ROHTAK: The peaceful protest of jewellers in the city on Monday intensified as they blocked roads near Bhiwani Stand, one of the busiest areas in the city. Around 700 jewellers in the city have been sitting on a dharna from last 26 days over the excise duty imposed by the government on jewellery. The jewellers have warned that if the excise duty was not rolled back, they would “soon start laying siege to roads across the city”.
Ashok Kaka of Goldsmith and Jewellers Association in Rohtak said, “If the government does not agree to our demands, we will boycott BJP MLAs and MPs and show them black flags. We will also block roads and disrupt the traffic movement.”