Chicken traders in Kerala have decided to shut shop from Monday if the discussion with Finance Minister Thomas Isaac scheduled to be held on Sunday afternoon fails.
Issac had warned the traders against hiking prices of commodities beyond the maximum retail price, in the name of GST, according to the The Times of India, and had directed the vendors to sell chicken at Rs 87 per kg.
“Any trade of chicken above Rs 87 per kilo will be at the risk of penal measures,” Isaac said.
The traders claim that the direction from the minister to sell chicken at the said price is not viable. Broiler chicken falls under the zero tax category in GST regime. The government's decision to slash the price of the meat in the state, one among the highest meat consuming state, came after the chicken price rose to Rs 157 per kg.
"It is not possible to sell chicken at the price decided by the government. We buy chicks for Rs 45.50. Also, the price of a sack of chicken food is Rs 1,400. If the discussion fails we will go for shutting down the shops from Monday,” said Satheesh Kumar, a poultry trader at Kovalam in Thiruvananthapuram.
The tax for selling chicken was 14 per cent before the GST came into effect. The government's intervention was subsequent to the charging of exorbitant prices by some traders and hoteliers. According to reports, the chicken traders hold the view that they are ready to sell chicken at Rs 100 but reducing the price below that is not possible.
"Extracting exorbitant profit under the pretext of GST will face stringent action,” Isaac had said on Saturday. Vyapari Vyavasyi Ekopana Samithi, the largest forum of traders in the state has also announced solidarity with the protest of chicken traders. T Nasaruddhin, state president of the forum said that the decision will be taken after the discussion.