Clothiers not to pay VAT

VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh Federation of Textile Associations has decided not to collect or pay 4 per cent of value added tax on cloth as a protest against imposition of VAT on one of the bare essentials.Speaking at a meeting of the federation at Tummalapallivari Kshetrayya Kalakshetram on Wednesday, vice-president Busireddy Malleswara Reddy said the cloth merchants were determined to violate the GO issued by the government in this regard.With the imposition of VAT, textiles would become costlier in the stateTraders from other states would not buy cloth from Andhra PradeshHence, the government should abolish VAT on cloth to promote the growth of textile business in the state, he said.Chirala Cloth Merchants Association president Chanduri Lakshminarayana said hundreds of shop employees would be rendered jobless if textile business in the state was hit.Earlier, the cloth merchants took out a massive rally from PWD grounds denouncing imposition of VAT on textiles.Cloth merchants of Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam, West Godavari and Khammam districts took part in the rally.Federation leader Bommana Rajkumar, City Cloth Merchants Association president Atmakuri Prakasa Rao, general secretary K Purushotham Das and others attended the meeting.