"As many as 19,200 bars and permit rooms in Maharashtra remained shut today to protest the state government`s tax hikes, including rise in VAT (value added tax) on liquor from five to 10 per cent, a 15 per cent increase in annual licence fees and a 60 per cent spike in excise duty, all in a year," Vijay Shetty of AHAR told PTI

The bandh is a protest against the `triple tax tsunami` that has struck the industry in less than a year, AHAR said in a statement

"The entire hospitality sector in Maharashtra is bleeding. Our pleas have fallen on deaf ears. Maharashtra bars were shut against the state government`s draconian taxation," it said

Earlier, permit rooms and bars in Mumbai were on Sunday seen preparing to observe statewide bandh on July 14

Last week, Vijay K Shetty, General Secretary of the Indian Hotels and Restaurant Association (AHAR), the association has opposed these tax hikes for the past 15 months

Maharashtra’s permit rooms and bars collectively employ around 20 lakh people. With these steep and `draconian` tax hikes, all of those jobs are now at risk, Shetty had said