Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 22: Showing solidarity with the jewellers across India, the jewellers of Jammu will observe one-day token strike on August 23 (Monday) for protesting against certain provisions of the new BIS Act, which they say are practically impossible to implement on ground.
The decision to observe token strike was taken in an emergency meeting convened here this evening by Sarafa Association Jammu Province and Swarankar Sangh Adhoc Committee Jammu, which was attended by their respective Presidents, Raman Suri and Kulbhushan Anand along with other office bearers.
Apprising the attendees, Raman Suri said that the new BIS Act doesn’t go well with the recommendations of NITI Aayog. Implementation of new laws, he explained, has been done in an arbitrary manner, especially the hallmarking of gold jewellery with HUID (Hallmarking Unique Identification number), wherein jewellers are finding extremely hard to implement the same in letter and spirit. He further said that the jewellers across India are already selling BIS-approved jewellery since almost 25 years and there is not even a single complaint by the consumers. These new provisions, he said, have become troublesome for both the jewellers and consumers equally. Moreover, there is no adequate infrastructure to implement the new provisions properly, he added.
The jewellers said that mandatory hallmarking of jewellery is a good step which is going to ensure the customer of guaranteed gold purity, but it is practically impossible to mark delicate jewellery items with HUID stamps, which is hampering the business.
The meet urged the Union Government, especially BIS Director-General Pramod Kumar Tiwari, to revisit the Act and recommendations of NITI Aayog, so that real issues confronting jewellers are ably understood and then the laws are re-implemented after necessary amendments.
Others, who attended the meeting, included Sarafa Association Sr Vice President Rakesh Mahajan, Deepak Jain (Vice President), Vijay Kumar Verma (Gen Secy), Sumit Handa (Secretary), Surinder Kumar Jain (Treasurer), Advisors Ajay Talla, Sanjay Jain as well as office bearers and members of Swarankar Sangh Adhoc Committee Amit Luthra (Gen Secy), Suraj Nischal and Ajay Verma.
During the meeting, President Swarankar Sangh South Jagjit Singh, President Nagrota Anil Anand and prominent members of Swarankar Sangh Adhoc Committee Ashutosh Kapoor, Surinder Bhasin, D K. Luthra, Mayank Kapoor, Surinder Sharma, Vinay Sudan, Naresh Abrol and Surinder Luthra were also consulted telephonically.
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