HYDERABAD: Gold jewellery showrooms across the city — including Panjagutta, Somajiguda, Kukatpally, Kondapur, Madhapur, Gachibowli, R P Road etc— remained shut, on Monday, as thousands of traders joined the one-day token strike to oppose the ‘Hallmark Unique ID’ (HUID) norm.
Jewellers from other parts of the state too came forward to participate in the protest.
In the city, banners were displayed in front of showrooms while some gold merchants squatted on the roads, in parts of Telangana, in solidarity with the bandh call.
“Over 90% of the traders kept their businesses closed,” said Mannepally Murali Krishna, member of the Task Force in Telangana comprising 50 to 70 associations/federations — claiming the bandh to be a success. He added: “We will continue our protest against the HUID norm, till the central government makes certain modifications suggested by the national task force for the benefit of gems, gold and jewellery industry.”
The Task Force in Telangana, meanwhile, convened meetings with merchants and discussed the challenges of processing the HUID on jewellery at ‘assaying and hallmarking centres’ (AHCs). While some highlighted the inordinate delay in allotment of HUID number to every ornament and piling up stock at AHCs, are major bottlenecks in the norm, some jewellers from Secunderabad claimed that the process interferes with data privacy and business secrecy of individual customers.
