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Friday,
January 11, 2002,
Chandigarh, India  
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New house tax policy: residents feel the heat 2 INLD leaders arrested Yamunanagar depot earns
Rs 4 lakh 20 arrested under Prohibition Act Forum directs firm to compensate farmer |
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PCO holders seek higher commission Free parking to be back in Ambala Sadar Applications invited for solar water pump
Farmers’ agitation
ends in Jind
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New house tax policy: residents feel the heat Karnal, January 10 The computer print out of the notices show the value of the land alongwith the cost of the building with decrease through depreciation. Interestingly the cost of land has been kept on the higher side while the concession allowed on annual maintenance of the house is very low. In one case in a posh colony of Karnal, the land value and the cost of house have been shown to be over Rs 42 lakhs and the owner has been allowed concession for annual repairs to the tune of Rs 18,000 only. The covered area of the house has been shown to be over 6,400 square feet. The owner on condition of anonymity asks how come such a big house would cost merely Rs 18000 for its annual repairs. The owner as per the earlier evaluations used to pay only Rs 300 as the annual house tax. The new formula has levied about Rs 3900 as the annual tax on him. This is about 13 times more. The owner argues that as per Section 78 of Rule 1973 of the Municipal Act, only 25 per cent increase in house tax is allowed after every five years. If that assumption is applied the owner is liable to pay only Rs 375 as house tax after the revision over the original sum of Rs 300. In another case in Kurukshetra, an owner of a two room set at the Mishran Chowk has been levied 15 times more tax than the previous one. The only civic amenity provided to them is the streetlight by the Municipal Corporation. The supply of potable water is being controlled by the Public Health Department. A separate bill is being paid by the residents of the department. The residents ask that if such huge amounts of house tax are to be levied then the civic bodies should ensure concrete roads in each locality as well as spic and clean surroundings. |
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2 INLD leaders arrested Fatehabad, January 10 Sources revealed that the police had been receiving complaints for the past few days that these leaders were running illegal satta trade. The police had recovered some incriminating articles from their premises, sources added. According to eyewitnesses, the police raided the shop of Mr Narang this morning after sending a decoy customer. The policeman, according to eyewitness, roughed up Mr Narang and threw him into the police jeep. They also caught hold of Mr Juneja, who was present there and forced him into the jeep. Another senior INLD leader and husband of the local municipal chief, Mr Jug Lal Tuteja, who is also alleged to be a partner in the illicit trade, managed to give the police slip. Several attempts were made to contact the district police chief and other police officers but to no avails. While the SP’s staff told this correspondent that he was away, the DSP and other police officers were tight-lipped over the incident. It may be recalled, the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, had attended a lunch party hosted by Mr Tuteja and a tea party hosted by Mr Juneja on last visit here. The sources said certain party leaders had later informed the Chief Minister about the alleged deeds of these leaders. The raid, according to sources, had been affected after orders from above. |
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Yamunanagar depot earns
Rs 4 lakh Yamunanagar, January 10 This was stated by Mr Rajiv Sharma, Deputy Commissioner, here today. He said the utilisation of buses had shown a substantial improvement. The depot’s fleet strength December, 2001 was 168 as compared to 174 buses during the corresponding month last year. He said there had been an increase of 20 per cent in the income in traffic receipts. Mr Narender Singh, General Manager, Haryana Roadways (Yamunanagar), informed that the depot had a distinction to have lowest store inventory in the state. He said as per the directions of the Transport Commissioner, Haryana, the drivers who had attained the age of 40 years had been sent for the testing of their eye sight and those who require to wear glasses would be provided these free of cost. |
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20 arrested under Prohibition Act Panipat, January 10 Giving this information here yesterday, the SP, Ms Mamata Singh, informed that one person had been held under the NDPS Act and 15 kg of narcotics seized from him. Similarly, another person had been booked under the Arms Act and a country-made pistol and one cartridge recovered from him. She said 55 cases of gambling at public places had been registered and 68 persons arrested. An amount of Rs 60,370 had been recovered from them. Two cases of dacoity had also been registered. Property worth Rs 2.15 lakh was stolen, of which property worth Rs 2 lakh had been recovered. Property worth 54,480 was reportedly stolen in five cases of looting of which property amounting to Rs 52,480 had been recovered. She said property worth Rs 6.72 lakh which was stolen in 35 theft cases had also been recovered by the police. |
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Forum directs firm to compensate farmer Kaithal, January 10 According to information, Ishwar Singh, a farmer of Songri village of this district, purchased sunflower seeds from a local dealer, Bhagwan Beej Bhandar, on March 3, 1999, and sowed it in five acres taken on lease. In spite of all precautions taken by the farmer seeds did not germinate causing loss to the farmer. He approached the official of the Agriculture Department to know the cause of the crop failure. The officials after inspecting the fields concluded that the cause of the crop failure was the poor quality of seeds. The farmer approached the District Consumer Forum for relief and claimed Rs 20,000 compensation as land lease money, Rs 60,000 for the crop failure and Rs 2,115 for price of the seeds. The forum issued notices to the dealer concerned and Vitla Agro Tech, Hyderabad, who took the stand that the seeds supplied by them were of good quality. They said besides the quality of seed factors like nature of land, climate, proper irrigation and moisture also affected germination of seeds and growth of crops. However, the forum members accepted the plea of the respondent dealer and the company and the report of the officials of the Agriculture Department. The forum directed the respondents to pay a compensation of Rs 5,000 per acre totalling Rs 20,000 for crop failure with 12 per cent interest from the date of passing of the order, Rs 20,000 as lease money and Rs 2,115 cost of seeds. However, another forum member Asha Bindlish passed a dissenting order dismissing the case, which was of no consequence being a minority view. |
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PCO holders seek higher commission Chandigarh, January 10 The demand has been made in a memorandum submitted to the Union Communication Minister, Mr Pramod Mahajan, through the BJP MP from Ambala, Mr Rattan Lal Kataria. A delegation of the association met Mr Kataria in this regard yesterday. The delegation, which was led by Mr Naresh Chadha, said while the reduction in the STD charges was a welcome step, it had sealed the fate of more than eight lakh PCO holders and about 50 lakh dependants. The memorandum said the PCOs should be allowed a service charge of Rs 3 per call, including calls made at the 95 level. It said the 95 level calls had considerably affected the revenue of the PCOs because the facility was available on non-STD domestic phones also. The other demands of the association included the imposition of a late-fee charge of Rs 2 per call after 8 p.m. and on Sundays on the pattern of the Central Telegraph Offices, imposition of Rs 5 per international call, a service charge of Re 1 on each local call, waiving of the minimum guaranteed amount clause and provision of the ISDN, video conferencing and VOIP services at PCOs. The delegation included Mr Naresh Garg, general secretary of the association; and Mr Jatinder Singh, president of the Ambala unit of the association.
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Free parking to be back in Ambala Sadar Ambala, January 10 Unlike last time when an area was simply earmarked for parking of vehicles behind Rai Market, this time the plan is to have the parking manned by an employee of the Municipal Council, Ambala Sadar. The Executive Officer, Municipal Council, Ambala Sadar, Mr A.K. Jain, said the parking behind Rai Market would be free of cost. “Our employee will be present to man the parking lot. He will issue a slip to the vehicle owner,” he said. Mr Jain said vehicle owners would be encouraged to park their vehicle at the parking area behind the market. “We are also seeking cooperation from businessmen who park their vehicle in front of their shops to utilise the parking area behind Rai Market,” he said. He said besides making available free manned parking area, a decision had been taken to paint yellow lines on the market roads at a distance of three feet from the shops. “If a vehicle is parked outside the yellow line, then it will be considered to have been wrongly parked,” he said. A three-member team of officials today visited the Ambala Sadar markets to take stock of the situation. Directions have been given to paint the yellow lines on the roads and the parking slips are also going to be printed very soon. It may be recalled that the Deputy Commissioner, Mr D.D. Gautam, the Superintendent of Police, Mr Sandeep Khirwar and the Additional DC, Mr Mahinder Kumar, had recently heard the grievances concerning Ambala Cantt from members of local organisations. Among others, president of Rotary Club of Industrial Area, Mr S.K. Aggarwal, Elders Forum member Nandra, Green Circle secretary R.P. Gupta and Vishwa Prakash Walia were also present. Mr Gautam said the issue of traffic bottlenecks had been discussed at the Civil Military liaison conference. The SP, Mr Sandeep Khirwar, said they were exploring the possibility of replicating one-way traffic system in the congested Ambala Sadar area. On the major issue of sanitation, Mr Gautam directed Executive Officer, Ambala Sadar, Mr A.K. Jain, to carry out a cleanliness drive on a war footing. “The nullahs will be cleaned and garbage will be lifted,” he said. He allocated a sum of Rs 50,000 for a period of two months for hiring more safai karamcharis and said the results should become apparent within a week. On the issue of encroachments, Mr Gautam said we need support of the people. “Senior administration officials, including the SP are going to visit the areas where encroachments have taken place to take stock of the situation,” he said. “The rehris are supposed to be moving and not stationary. EO Ambala Sadar, will take necessary action,” he added. The SP assure Green Circle members that their concern regarding security at Indra Park would be looted into. He directed SHO, Ambala Sadar, to post Home Guard personnel near Indra Park to avoid any untoward incident.
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Applications invited for solar water pump Panchkula, January 10 Applications for this purpose should be sent through respective District Rural Development Agency latest by January 20. According to an official spokesman the Deputy Commissioner, Ms Jyoti Arora , said the system would be provided to farmers with financial assistance from the Union Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources. She added that the state government would provide only such 100 SPV water pumps to farmers in the state. The capacity of the pump would be 1800 watts with 2hp direct current mono block pump set and the pump would be very beneficial to farmers who had water table at 8 m depth in their farms.
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Farmers’ agitation
ends in Jind Jind, January 10 The BKU was represented by its vice-president, Mr Harkesh Malik, the general secretary, Mr Ramphal Kandela, president of the BKU unit of Jind, Mr Mahender Singh Ghimana, the district president of Rohtak, Mr Dharambir Hooda, the district president of Hisar, Mr Vijender Singh and the district president of Fatehabad, Mr Chander Singh. The Haryana Government was represented by Mr Suraj Bhan Kajal, Chairman, Haryana Finance Commission, Mr Ramphal Kundu, MLA, and Mr Des Raj, Chairman, Khadi Board, Haryana. |
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Clearance on water utilisation Chandigarh, January 10 While stating this here today, a spokesman of the Irrigation Department said that work on lining of the Bachher Nathore minor had been started by the department. The Rajasthan Government had been urged to expedite the acquisition of land for the three minors as these fell in that state. |
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Home Secy can suspend passports Chandigarh, January 10 The designated officer has been authorised to delegate powers to lower-level functionaries to take action for temporarily suspending passports after taking approval from them. |
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Woman murdered Shahabad, January 10 |
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Parishad to hold youth festival Chandigarh, January 10 He said that subsequently the AYP would organise a health camp in Teontha village in the same district.
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