New Delhi: Raising their voices against the proposed hike in GST on the sale of red clay bricks by the Centre, thousands from the brick kiln industryprotested at Jantar Mantar on Tuesday. 

Calling the tax hike “exorbitant”, the owners of brick kilns from acrossthe country protesting under the banner of AllIndia Bricks and Tiles Manufacturers Federation (AIBTMF) claimed that the decision would affect them badly. The GST hike would be effective from April 1. 

Ashok Tewari, president of AIBTMF, said, “The GST council has proposed to hike tax from 5% to 12% with input tax credit (ITC) under the regular scheme and from 1% to 6% without ITC under the composition scheme. Also, the floor of the regular scheme has been lowered from an annual turnover of Rs 1.5 crore to Rs 20 lakh.” 

“We even met the GST revenue secretary and appealed to the government for reduction in the tax. Finally, we were left with no option but to hold a strike,” said Atul Kumar Singh, senior vice-president, AIBTMF. “The proposal should be brought back on the table for reconsideration. We had sent several complaints to the GST council too,” said another member. 

The operators were also agitating against the Centre’s failure to prevent the constant rise in the price of coal. A tonne of coal, which was Rs 8,000 earlier, now costs Rs 20,000.