Month: July 2017
1,000 Theatres of Tamil Nadu have closed in protest over GST
More than 1,000 cinemas in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu have closed in protest at a hike in taxes after the government introduced a nationwide levy.
Movie theatres in the southern state darkened their screens from Monday, saying a state tax of 30 percent on tickets on top of the new national tax of 28 percent will deter cinema-goers and encourage piracy.
The government introduced a new goods and service tax (GST) on Saturday in India’s biggest-ever fiscal reform.
It intends to replace more than a dozen national and state levies with a single unified tax code.
But as part of negotiations to get states to accept the GST, the government agreed some could impose additional local levies. Tamil Nadu has targeted cinema tickets.
“The tax rate on tickets is 58 percent, the highest in the country,” Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners and Distributors Association President Abhirami Ramanathan told AFP.
“It is a burden on movie-goers and defeats the objective of the new tax regime,” he said.
Ramanathan added that the taxes would encourage people to illegally download films.
The association accepts the new GST but says cinemas cannot afford the state duty as well.
The Tamil film industry is India’s second biggest after Mumbai-based Bollywood, and the state accounts for a huge chunk of the $2.1 billion annual box office earnings across the country.
Tamil film industry representatives say the taxes could affect the livelihoods of nearly one million people.
–AFP
Video: Bangladesh garment factory blast death toll rises to 10
The death toll from a blast at a Bangladesh garment factory has risen to 10 after two victims died in hospital, authorities said Tuesday, warning there could be more casualties.
Dozens of workers were inside the factory on the outskirts of Dhaka when the boiler exploded on Monday evening, causing a section of the six-storey building to collapse.
The explosion, which occurred when most workers were off for the Eid holidays, is the latest disaster to hit the country’s $30-billion garment industry.
In April 2013, the nine-storey Rana Plaza factory complex collapsed, killing more than 1,100 people in one of the world’s worst industrial disasters.
“We were meant to open the factory today after the Eid holiday so we were checking the equipment yesterday,” said operations director Mesba Faruqui.
“If it had happened today, God forbid, there might have been more casualties.”
The plant in the Gazipur industrial district is owned by textiles manufacturer Multifabs, which makes clothing for brands including Littlewoods and Aldi, according to its website.
Three workers remain unaccounted for after the latest disaster, and district administrator Mahmud Hasan said the toll could rise further.
“The search and rescue operation is still ongoing. The rescuers are trying to reach the boiler room under the debris to look for any further casualties,” he told AFP.
Factory authorities said the main site was closed on Monday, and the workers there were conducting boiler maintenance.
Relatives of missing workers gathered at the factory premises late Monday.
“My father is a boiler operator at this factory. He was called yesterday on his day off to work on boiler maintenance,” said Mehedi Hasan.
“Ten minutes after my father left home, we heard the news of the blast. And now I came here as he doesn’t pick up his phone,” he said in tears.
Bangladesh has more than 4,500 garment factories employing four million mostly female workers at a minimum monthly wage of $68.
–AFP