Left-leaning political leaders, student leaders and activists on Thursday demanded that the interim government cancel the recently increased value-added tax and supplementary duty on more than 100 products and services.
They also demanded cancellation of all the agreements signed with the International Monetary Fund, saying that the deals went against the people鈥檚 interests.
To press home their demands, they organised a mass procession that began in front of the Bangladesh National Museum at Shahbagh and ended in front of Ananda Cinema Hall at Farmgate in the capital Dhaka.
Labour leader Iqbal Kabir, one of the organisers of the procession, said at a brief rally after the procession that common people were suffering due to a price surge of daily essentials and the increased VAT amplified their sufferings.
Iqbal said that the ousted Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government signed the agreements with the IMF, going against the common people鈥檚 interests.
Communist Party of Bangladesh central leader Abdullah Al Kafi Ratan said that the interim government鈥檚 activities, including the hike in prices of daily essentials, indicated that it was walking on the same path Hasina had taken.
Student leader Rafiqujjaman Farid said, 鈥楻ollback of increased VAT and SD on only about 10 items from more than 100 products and services that have faced increased VAT and SD is a farce.鈥�
The government must remove the increased VAT and SD on all the products and services, he demanded.
Among others, former student leader Anik Roy, labour leader Satyajit Biswas and researcher Maha Mirza participated in the procession that paraded different roads, including Shahbagh, Elephant Road, Panthapath, Green Road and Farmgate.
The interim government on January 9 had issued two ordinances increasing the VAT and SD on more than 100 products and services, including mobile phone talk time, internet usages, cigarette, alcoholic drinks, biscuits, tissue paper, imported fruits, restaurant bills, sauces, spectacles, clothes, air tickets, liquefied petroleum gas, milk, showroom, confectionery items and electric poles.
On Wednesday, the National Board of Revenue, however, issued four circulars revising its tax policies, reducing the VAT and SD on several items and services, including mobile phone usage, broadband internet, medicine, readymade clothes, restaurants, sweets, non-AC hotels and motor workshops amid widespread criticisms and protests against the hike in VAT and SD.
