State government, traders agree to disagree

The state government on Thursday made it clear to the protesting trader associations that there will be no rollback of local body tax (LBT). The traders were asked to call off the strike as it is badly hitting the common man under whose name the strike was launched.

The decision was taken by chief minister Prithviraj Chavan’s high-powered committee of municipal commissioner of Kalyan-Dombivali Municipal Corporation (KDMC) Ramnath Chavan and LBT officer of Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation Sudhir Cheke on Wednesday. The panel members met the traders’ association and civic authorities in Pune.

Chavan, who was instrumental in implementing LBT in Jalgaon Municipal Corporation, told traders that LBT was the need of the hour.

The committee noted down the points raised by traders and told them that it would prepare a report and forward it to the chief secretary. However, the traders remained firm on continuing with the indefinite strike till the government gives a written assurance. After the meeting, municipal commissioner Mahesh Pathak told the media that the civic administration has appealed to the traders to call off the strike as the government has shown its willingness to discuss the issues raised by them.

Traders’ demand
Raise the cap of Rs1 lakh for LBT net.

Decrease the set-off limit (returns on the goods passing through the city) from 90% to 10%.

Scrap LBT system by collecting 1% extra tax with value added tax (VAT).

Fine amount that is 10 times the worth of total goods be reduced

Not delegate the inspection rights to check the book of accounts

@ashishjadhav81