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The centre may be planning a grand rollout of the GST from midnight on Friday but it has been facing a stiff resistance from the traditional Banarasi saree manufacturers and dealers in prime minister Narendra Modi’s Lok Sabha constituency, Varanasi.

The Uttar Pradesh government on Wednesday launched efforts to connect to the traders’ organisations to remove their ’doubts’’ over the GST and ensure its smooth roll out.

The traders dealing the Banarasi sarees and the cloth merchants’ association have given a call for a three-day ’bandh’ (closure) in the city in protest against GST.

The city markets observed a complete closure on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the reports. The experts said that the closure affected business transactions worth around Rs. 100 crore.

Reports said that a large number of traders took out a motorbike rally in the city to register their protest.

Reports of protests have also been received from the industrial town of Kanpur. The trade organisations’ leaders, including those affiliated with the BJP, also joined the protests. The cloth market in Kanpur remained completely closed on Wednesday, reports said.

UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday addressed a workshop on GST here and appealed to the traders to welcome GST as it would bring them many benefits in the long run.

’’GST is a development oriented, simple and transparent taxation system..it will benefit both the common and poor consumers as well as the traders,’’ Adityanath said.

The chief minister asked his cabinet colleagues to reach out to the chartered accountants, traders and their associations in different parts of the state and remove their doubts on the GST.

Deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma also met a delegation of the traders here on Wednesday and asked them to ensure a smooth rollout of the GST. ’’The government is ready to address the concerns of the traders,’’ he said.