As we all know that Kolkata is famous for rasgulla, Sandesh and mishti, But due to the high- GST tax rates on sweet dishes has put the sweet makers in the worrisome condition. However, Sweet Makers across West- Bengal are protesting for the Goods and Services Tax.
In West- Bengal it is considered as a bad Monday for the sweet makers as around 1.5 lakh sweet makers in West Bengal kept their shutters down for 24- hours protesting for recently introduced Goods and Services Tax Regime. On Sunday they had also chipped posters on the walls of their shops saying – No GST please for mishti (Sweets).
Previously, the sweet owners had protested in the month of June before the implementation of the new indirect tax regime. Mr Arun Sen, Chief of the Sen Mahashay sweet shops, said “Bengali sweets are very perishable, unlike north Indian sweets. So if fish and vegetables are not being brought under GST, mishti shouldn’t either.” By adding that, “There is a huge variety of sweets and they come under different slabs of GST and that is becoming a daily problem. Our employees are finding it impossible to make bills.”
“Most of us working in sweet shops are not very educated. So calculating different GST rates for different sweets….we just can’t do it. If there must be GST, let there be just one slab”, said Pradeep Kar of VIP Sweets in Salt Lake. According to the West Bengal Mishtanna Byabshayee Samiti, the unorganized Mishti industry in West- Bengal has nearly Rs.1,000 crore turnover annually and about 10 lakh employees are working in this industry. They expressed their concern that the industry was exempted from the previous regime i.e., Value Added Tax, then why now GST levied on Mishti industry.
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Since late Sunday Evening, some of the sweet owners had not heard from the management whether they could be joining the protest or not. Sanjay Gupta, a store manager said, “We are waiting for a confirmation”. He further added that “But yes it is a problem. If a chocolate based sweet is charged 28 per cent GST, who will buy”.
Surprisingly, no one was in hurry to purchase mishti on Sunday. A customer of the sweet shop who was a doctor said, “Good thing for patients of diabetes. But mishti is the daily bread for people in Bengal.” Another customer, said “We must have some sweet or the other for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Monday is going to be a difficult day.” Another gentleman said. “Sweets are one thing Bengalis love and it is a shame it is getting so highly taxed”.