Post the income tax (I-T) raids against some arhityas in the state, the District Arhtiya Association has announced to halt the working at grain markets here. Around 79 grain markets in Jalandhar will remain closed for the next four days.
Harnam Singh, district senior vice president of Punjab Arthiya Association said, following the call by the ‘Federation of Arthiyas Punjab’ the grain markets would be closed from Tuesday to Friday to express resentment against the raids.
While Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Saturday had criticized the Centre for its intimidatory tactics against arthiyas supporting the agitating farmers, and warned that such draconian measures will further aggravate the anger of the people against the BJP-led Central Government, the commission agents here, stated that the IT raids were not only unjustified but were also an insult on the fair income of the arthiyas across the state.
“Do not label us as “bicholiye” or middlemen; we are the service providers to the farmers and the government. How can the Income-tax department even consider launching a raid on us when all our transactions are made online on government accounts? After putting TDS, we get only 2.5 per cent commission, hence making all the transactions transparent. Therefore, the IT raids were completely unfair.
“The government is only trying to pressurize us to no to lend their support to the farmers in their ongoing protest” added Haraman Singh.
Around 16 arthiyas were served notices by the I-T department and raids were carried out on six arthiyas who have state-level designations in the arthiya unions. They demanded that the Income Tax officials must immediately return all the documents and books of Arhtiyas.