BJP activists would not hesitate to come out on the roads to oppose the tax, threatened a local BJP youth wing office-bearer has threatened.

Condemning the saffron alliance Government for burdening them with a new tax, the Solapur District Powerloom Association (SDPA) members have threatened to resort to an indefinite strike from April 1, if the State Government bulldozes its decision without considering their grievances.

SDPA chairman Shriniwas Chatla, speaking to The Indian Express today, said that the four percent tax hike came as a surprise to powerloom owners all over Maharashtra. Further, the tax has come at a time when the powerloom sector is already suffering major financial losses.

A sizable chunk -- as highas about 40 per cent -- of powerlooms across the country was running in loss and the owners have been forced to down their shutters, Chatla said. ``Rising overheads besides the hike in raw material prices have paralysed the business. About one lakh powerloom workers in Solapur city alone, are in danger of losing their jobs,'' he added.

Chatla lamented that they were already paying Rs 15.3 out of every hundred rupees earned to the Government indirectly on cotton, cotton yarn, colour chemicals and machinery in the form of sales tax and excise duty on yarn and colour chemicals. Now an additional four percent hike in taxes has put powerloom owners in deep trouble. ``We are unable to run our business under such unhealthy conditions,'' he said.

The State's decision would affect exports and more than 15 thousand powerlooms which have been struggling to compete in international markets on minimum profit would be forced to stop their operations, he said.

Former Parliament member Dharmanna Sadul came down heavilyon the decision, terming it as unfortunate. ``Powerlooms is the chief business of this city and if that is paralysed by such decisions, lakhs of people involved in this business will be rendered jobless,'' he said. He demanded scrapping of the tax immediately. The common man would be forced to protest on the streets to oppose such a decision, he added.

Meanwhile, city BJP men too have opposed the levying of four per cent tax by their own partyman Mahadev Shivankar who handles the Finance portfolio.

In a press release, BJP youth leader Shriniwas Daima has stated that Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde specifically assured partymen in Solapur against any such a move at the BJP State-level meet held in the city in November 1997.