Withdraw professional tax, demands Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal

Ludhiana, August 27, 2021: Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal (PPBM) has strongly condemned the working of the ruling Congress party in the state and said the present state government is not "traders-friendly" because it is badly failing in watching the interests of the traders' community.

Addressing the media persons here today, the mandal's state general secretary Sunil Mehra, district president Arwinder Singh Makkar, district chairman Pawan Lehar and district general secretary Surinder Aggarwal added that the trade activities have been adversely affected due to wrong policies of the state government.

They said instead of providing any relief to the traders during this time of the pandemic the state government is bent upon to ruin them on one or another pretext. They said it is a hard fact that traders are always considered the backbone of the economy because the government runs with the taxes the traders pay.

They said around 40,000 industries have shifted to other states due to the faulty policies of the state government. Still, the Amarinder government is not paying any attention to resolving problems of the trade and industry and instead of giving any relief various new taxes are being introduced on traders. 

The PPBM leaders pointed out that professional tax was introduced in the state about three years ago. They said this tax has proved very harmful to the traders in the state. They demanded that the state government should announce to withdraw this tax in the forthcoming session of Punjab Assembly on September 2 and also ensure to provide power at Rs.5 per unit.

They warned that the mandal would be constrained to stage protests across the state if their demands are not met and the entire responsibility of the outcomes would lie on the state government.

They also expressed their concern over the rising incidents of crime by the gangsters. They said there do not prevail any law and order as the incidents of looting are occurring on routine basis in Ludhiana, resulting in which fear prevails among the traders. They said the police administration has been failing in maintaining the law and order situation.