Cong demands withdrawal of GST on fishing equipments

Opposition Congress in Kerala today urged Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to withdraw immediately the GST on fishing equipments as it was causing immense hardships to the fishermen.

In a letter to Jaitley, a copy of which was released to the media here, Opposition leader in the state assembly and Ramesh Chennithala said Kerala accounted for 550 km coastal stretch and about 10 lakh people were involved in fishing activities.

After demonetisation, the fishermen had to face lot of hardships. Now after GST rollout, the taxes for various fishing equipments, including nets, had gone up steeply, he said.

Of the total global fish stock, 5.4 per cent is in India and about 2 crore people in the country are depended on the fisheries sector, he said.