Government has failed to establish its writ on the powerful kiln owners as they are selling bricks at exorbitant rates without paying 16 per cent General Sales Tax imposed by the Federal government in the FY 2011-12 budget, Business Recorder has learnt.
Kiln owners of Multan Road told this scribe that they were supplying bricks at site at the rate of Rs7,000 per thousand without paying GST. Retailers were selling bricks at Rs8000 per thousand in the city.
It may be added that construction activities in the commercial and public sector have come to a halt across the country after kiln owners suspended supply of bricks in protest against imposition of GST on bricks since July 1, 2011.
Talking to Business Recorder President Bhatta Malkaan Association (Kiln owners association) Mohammad Shoaib Niazi threatened that 16,000 kilns in the country would stop baking bricks and go on strike from August 1, if the government did not withdraw the 16 percent GST. The kiln owners would hold protest demonstrations on Saturday, July 23, 2011 to press for their demands throughout the country.
He said that the government had again imposed tax on the brick kiln industry after 15 years, which was not acceptable to them.
He said the kiln owners were helping the government and the people by providing high quality bricks at reasonable rates to the labour intensive construction industry.
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