VAT: All-India strike from Mar 29

Announcing a 96-hour country-wide strike against the value added tax system from March 29, traders' body Akhil Bharatiya Udyog Vyapar Mandal on Tuesday said the traders will resort to self-immolation in the national capital if the controversial tax was forced on them.

All big and small business establishments would remain closed during 'Bharat bandh' from March 29 to April 1, the day from which VAT would be implemented, ABUVM convenor Sandeep Bansal said in Lucknow.

However, if the Centre still went ahead and forcibly implemented VAT, traders would immolate themselves in Delhi on April 2, he warned.

The Union government and the finance minister should understand this clearly that traders' indignation against VAT had reached a crescendo and it would not be possible for them to force it down our throat, he pointed out.

Informing that before March 29, traders would observe a phase-wise agitation all over the country, he said on April 1, rail and road traffic would also be hampered as part of the protest against the draconian tax.