Assam Traders Say No To Donations

Guwahati, Nov 26 : Trade and industry bodies in Assam today came out strongly against the demand for donations by various organisations and said this would send a wrong signal to prospective investors in the state.

The Assam Chamber of Commerce even said only dishonest traders were giving donations to students and other organisations to hide the dirty side of their business and asked the “honest” businessmen not to succumb to such demands.

“Business is a cut-throat competition in the current environment and there are still many honest businessmen. I do not see any reason to demand donations from the businessmen who are earning money by adopting honest means. If earning money is the only reason for giving donations, then the salaried class would also have to do the same. As a businessman I have never given any donation to any organisation,” the state convenor of the chamber, Rupam Goswami, told The Telegraph.

Asked to comment on the ongoing conflict between the AASU and Vishal Mega Mart, Goswami said the management of the business outlet should have protested at a time when the AASU had demanded donations. He said it seems that the Vishal’s management tried to politicise the issue, which was unfortunate.

Mahavir Jain, president of the Kamrup Chamber of Commerce, said forceful donations were illegal and anyone resorting to such practice must be brought to book. He, however, said businessmen donate a portion of their profits to different organisations for social causes.

“I don’t want to comment on donations by making the conflict between AASU and Vishal Mega Mart a case study. I am worried that if the business community is harassed or intimidated in the name of donations, it will send a very wrong signal about the present state of affairs of Assam to outsiders,” Jain said.

The business community in Jorhat did not want to comment on the issue.

“Please don’t drag us into this. But what is happening is very unfortunate,” an office-bearer of the Upper Assam Chamber of Commerce said on condition of anonymity.

Bikash Gogoi, convenor of the Dibrugarh district unit of Assam Chamber of Commerce, said donations demanded by various organisations hadbecome a nuisance for the business community in the state and it would affect the economic growth of Assam.

At a time when Assam is faced with the burning unemployment problem, it couldn’t afford to tolerate hooliganism in the name of donations for “social causes”, he added.

Via The Telegraph