The weavers’ associations had written a letter to Patnaik on July 17, requesting him to take up the issues of the power loom industry of Surat with the GST council.
Days after the Federation of Gujarat Weavers Association (FOGWA) and its subsidiary Pandesara Weavers Association wrote to Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Odisha finance minister Shashi Bhusen Behera visited Surat on Saturday for a study tour of the power loom industry.
The weavers’ associations had written a letter to Patnaik on July 17, requesting him to take up the issues of the power loom industry of Surat with the GST council.
Over five lakh powerloom workers, hailing from Behrampur and Ganjam districts of Odisha, work in Surat’s power loom industry. However, since the implementation of GST, over 40,000 workers have been unemployed.
In their letter, members of FOGWA had requested the Odisha CM to make representations to the Prime Minister’s Office and the Finance minister to remove the ban refund of the Input Tax credit. During the 28th meeting of the GST council on July 21, the council had allowed for the refund of the Input Tax credit on the power loom industry.
Following his tour of the textile industry on Saturday, Behera, accompanied by Odisha MP Prashanta Nanda said, “On the bases of the letter sent by the FOGWA and Pandesara Weavers Association, we have made strong representations to the GST council. We also demanded refund of Input tax credit for the power loom industry, which the GST council had accepted.”
Interacting with the media at the Circuit house, he said, “We will prepare a study report of our visit and meetings and present it to CM Naveen Patnaik.”
FOGWA president Ashok Jirawala said, “We have requested Shashi Bhusen Behera that their government should request Gujarat government to form a textile ministry. We also asked their government to make representations to Central government to raise the subsidy under TUFF scheme for upgradations of machines.”

indianexpress.com