The Assam Textile Merchants' Association (ATMA) has called a day-long textile trade bandh in the state on Tuesday against the government's decision to impose five per cent value added tax (VAT) on textiles.

"Commoners will be the worst sufferers of the government's decision to impose 5 per cent VAT on textiles. Though Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Nagaland, Goa and Delhi had imposed VAT on textiles in the past, they decided to withdraw their decision after the move badly affected textile business. Various organizations across the state have supported us and we urge the Assam government to revoke its decision", Subhkaran Maloo, the president of ATMA, told the media here on Monday.

Maloo added that due to imposition of 5 per cent VAT on textiles, the business of merchants, who used to export textile products to other northeastern states, has been badly hit. "Guwahati is the hub of textile business in the northeast. Traders of Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura are refusing to buy textile goods from Assam after the imposition of five per cent VAT on textiles with affect from June 28", he added.

Various trade organizations in the city and other towns of the state have supported the textile trade bandh called by ATMA and will stage a dharna against the state government's move at Dispur Last Gate on Tuesday.

The All Guwahati Traders' Association has appealed to textile merchants to keep their establishments open in the flood-affected areas of the state in view of the requirements of the people in those areas.