Permit rooms and bars in Mumbai will observe a statewide bandh on Monday, July 14, to protest the unfair hike in Value Added Tax (VAT) and excise duty imposed on them. Pics/Ashish Raje
Earlier, Vijay K Shetty, General Secretary of the Indian Hotels and Restaurant Association (AHAR), the association has opposed these tax hikes for the past 15 months
He said VAT on liquor has doubled from 5 per cent to 10 per cent, licence fees have increased by 15 per cent, and excise duties have gone up by 60 per cent
Maharashtra’s permit rooms and bars collectively employ around 20 lakh people. With these steep and 'draconian' tax hikes, all of those jobs are now at risk, Shetty had said
Rajendra Bakshi, executive secretary of AHAR, had earlier told mid-day, “We are organising this dry day on Monday to make the authorities understand how badly this affects our industry”
On Monday, all 19,200 permit rooms and bars across Maharashtra will observe a dry day as a show of unity against the tax increases, which the association says are severely hurting the industry
ADVERTISEMENT
