Protests against LBT can lead to black-marketeering, higher prices: fear police

Protests against LBT can lead to black-marketeering, higher prices: fear policeContinuing protests against the local body tax (LBT) could lead to illegal storage of goods, black-marketing, higher prices and even looting of shops, Maharashtra police said.

The state police said that the businessmen community is unaware about the tax, and suggested that the government should use social networking sites to publicize the benefits of tax.

A senior police officer said that the businessmen community was under fear, and the ongoing negative publicity about the tax was making people more agitating.

Expressing concern about the issue, the officer said, "If the shops are closed for a long period, the amount of loss the state will incur will be huge, goods won't be freely available and, hence, will be sold at a higher rate and secretly."

The state police suggested the government to educate everyone on the LBT issue; tell them how the new tax would be beneficial to the common man; and how it would not hurt the business community's interests.

In the past month, nearly 26 cases of agitations took place in protest of the tax.

Meanwhile, the indefinite strike called by the Federation of Trade Associations of Pune to protest the imposition of LBT received a lukewarm response as more than fifty per cent of shops in the city remained open. The district administration had warned that it could impose ESMA (Essential Service Maintenance Act) on shopkeepers trying to hold consumers to ransom.