The Assam government has asked all dealers of 'gamochas', the traditional hand towel, to only buy and sell those produced by handlooms.
All dealers involved with buying and selling in traditional Muga and Eri silk based cloth and garments shall issue a bill/payment receipt/sale memo to the buyers/consumers clearly mentioning 'Original Muga/eri silk of Assam' or 'silk of Varanasi/Mysore etc', according to an order issued by Assam Commissioner of taxes Ravi Kota.
The order has been issued so that consumers can make a conscious choice to buy the products.
The order said that prescribed authority of the taxation department would check whether dealers are issuing such bills indicating clearly the details and any deviation of the same would be dealt with as per law.
The measure was necessitated as some traders were trying to dupe the consumers by selling the silk items brought from other states into Assam in the name of the traditional Muga and Eri based cloth and garments such as 'Mekhela Chador' and 'Muga saree'.
VAT is not levied on Gamochas to promote the handloom sector and selling those produced by powerloom is in contravention of relevant provision of handlooms (Reservation of Articles for Production) Act, 1985.
As per the Handlooms (Reservation of Articles for Production) Act, 1985 'gamocha' is a reserved article for exclusive production by handlooms and production of the same by powerlooms would attract penalty including imprisonment under Section 10 of the Act.
