Excelsior Correspondent
LEH, Sept 2: A complete shutdown was observed today by the business community in Leh Town to protest the sudden raid by the GST team and to highlight the problems being faced by the traders.
The members of business community said that the sudden visit of GST team to Leh for enforcement of the GST regime have cost lots of confusion and extreme harassment to the local traders, hoteliers and other members of business community.
In this regard, an emergency meeting of the representatives of entire business community of Leh was held which was chaired by Thupstan Chhewang, MP (Lok Sabha) Ladakh and attended by Doriay Mutup, Chief Executive Councillor, LAHDC, Leh, Nawang Rigzin Jora, MLA Leh, Tsewang Thinles, president, LBA Leh, PT Kunzang, chairman, Ladakh Tourist Trade Alliance and representatives of ALTOA, All Ladakh Hotel & Guest House Association, Contractor Association, Tourist Transporters and other important people from Leh.
Representatives of business community apprised the MP and other public representatives of the various problems and difficulties faced by the people of Ladakh. They said due to long road distances and resultant heavy transportation costs to nearby markets such as Jammu and Srinagar, the cost of services and trade escalates tremendously, thus adversely affecting the revenue margins and savings from such economic activities.
“The air connectivity to Ladakh is the costliest in the country. Moreover, cargo space is rarely available due to poor availability of air capacity and limited number of flights. Moreover, due to physical constraints, the general economic activities in the region remain confined to merely 4-5 months in a year and are limited to subsistence level”, they stated.
Another major problem faced by the local trade and service sector, they said, is that they have to stock all kinds of trading and developmental materials in bulk for nearly six months in advance before the onset of winter, thus blocking capital and loan funds involving huge interest burden.
They said that due to the extreme climatic and geographical conditions of Ladakh region, the cost of living is perhaps among the highest in the country.
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