Two days after a delegation of Knitwear Club urged excise and taxation officials to stop "unwarranted raids" on businessmen, a scuffle ensued between traders and members of a departmental mobile wing team during checking of records of a knitwear trader in the city on Thursday evening.
The trouble began at about 5:30pm in Chawal Bazar here when a team led by assistant excise and taxation commissioner Gurinder Singh Sandhu took into custody the business records of Punjab Knitwear.
Irate traders from the area gheraoed the official vehicles of the team and shouted slogans against them. The mob also blocked the road for some time, and allegedly snatched briefcases of officials containing departmental documents along with seized records.
Police were called to the spot, who persuaded the agitated traders to stop protest. Representatives of both sides were present at police station division number 1 till late evening, trying to sort out the matter. Sandhu was tight-lipped on the day's happenings and maintained that the matter would be sorted out with police help.
Knitwear Club president Darshan Dawar, who reached the spot to support traders, said that they had already had apprised department officials of the alleged unnecessary raids.
{{/usCountry}}Knitwear Club president Darshan Dawar, who reached the spot to support traders, said that they had already had apprised department officials of the alleged unnecessary raids.
{{/usCountry}}When contacted, Ludhiana deputy excise and taxation commissioner Kamal Preet Brar said that as per her information, a team of mobile wing of the department from Patiala had raided the trader. "The team had not informed my office prior to the raid, so only the team members will be responsible for whatever they do and only they can we comment on the issue," she said.