MARGAO: The Goa Gold Dealers’ Association has submitted a memorandum to the Central Government and has received assurances with regard to their demands from the Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal.
Pramit Raikar, the Association President said the minister immediately took cognisance of their views and instructed the Director of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) to allow their association to set up their hallmarking centre.
The association also received assurances that raw material in the form of pure gold will be supplied through the State Bank of India (SBI) branches in Goa.
In their detailed memorandum, the association highlighted the hardship their trade has faced and the little support they have received from the government.
Their demands included the need to have one law for the market that is implemented uniformly where they pointed out flaws to the present turnover related norms. While they appealed for lowering the import duty and GST tax, they also appealed for better protection of local artisans and also exempting select cotton industry artisans from hallmarking.
They demanded for the availability of bullion gold through nationalised banks or through government agencies, which they said will ensure proper quality gold and provide tax revenue to the government.
They also praised the introduction of mandatory hallmarking but said there would be bottlenecks for its smooth implementation given that the requisite infrastructure is presently lacking.
They pointed to the problems faced by the 600 plus shops and businesses that have to wait for long and forced to travel long distances despite safety concerns in view of the present one district one centre system.
