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Wednesday,
May 7, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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HP to
reconstitute rights panel Geologists
converge on Saketi 13,000
posts in Audit Department vacant VAT: industry to support govt Abolition
of user charges ‘eyewash’ |
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HAS-cadre
officer arrested Dharamsala, May 6 The local Vigilance Department arrested the District Tourism Officer, an officer of HAS cadre, last night on charges of corruption. He was caught red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000 from Mr Sukhjeet Singh Sidhu.
Garbage burning
causes forest fire
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HP to reconstitute rights panel Shimla, May 6 The decision was taken by the state Cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, here last evening. It also decided to revive the posts of Director, Land Records and Additional Land along with supporting staff. In another important decision, it approved the proposal to scrap the state sales tax tribunal. The work being handled by it will be looked after by Financial Commissioner, Appeals. An ordinance to this effect will be issued soon. The Cabinet took up the matter regarding review of agreements and memorandums of understanding (MoUs) signed by the previous government for execution of hydel power projects and decided to set up a high-level committee of officers for the purpose. Headed by the Chief Secretary the committee will have the Additional Chief Secretary, the Chairman of the state electricity board, the Secretary, Finance, and two technical persons from the power board as members, while the Special Secretary, Power, will be the member secretary. The committee will submit its report by July 31. The Cabinet also gave its nod to the state infrastructural development board to mobilise Rs 500 crore through term loans against the non-SLR borrowings of the state for 2003-04 in the first tranche and authorised it to raise further loans as per the directions of the Finance Department form time to time. It also decided to scrap the Rogi Kalyan Samitis set up in various hospitals by the previous regime. Further, the charges for X-ray and other tests will be uniform in all institutions across the state. The Cabinet gave relief to commuters by reducing the token tax from 20 times to 15 times per quarter and 60 times to 45 times for full year. |
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Geologists
converge on Saketi Saketi (Nahan), May 6 Addressing the gathering comprising eminent experts in the field, the Himachal Minister said more facts could come to light if the inner regions of the region were excavated by geological experts. He lauded the vision of Himachal's first Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Parmar, in shaping this heritage park which he described as a valuable asset of the region. In his inaugural address the Director-General, GSI, Mr P.C. Mandal, stressed on the importance of the Geological Survey of India and said it was the oldest department of the country which had completed more than 150 years. Established in 1974, this park contained valuable vertebrate fossils which were from 1 million to 2.5 million years old. Expressing concern over the temporary museum set up to demonstrate the rare fossil specimens in the park, he said a permanent building would go a long way in preserving and developing the fossil heritage. Stressing on upgradation of the lackadaisical facilities extended to this crucial centre, he said it was sad that an artificial lake and a heritage restaurant, which had come up some time back to attract tourists, had vanished because of lack of proper management. Taking exception to the poor road network connecting the park, he urged the Minister to pursue the matter in an effective way with the state government. Highlighting the importance of this fossil park, he said it preserved various stages of evolution and the workshop was aimed at deliberating upon future research work to be carried out to preserve these rare ensembles. The Industries Minister accompanied by senior GSI officials later visited the museum containing rare collection of vertebrate fossils collected from Saketi and its adjacent areas. He also appreciated models of various animals displayed in the park, including crocodile, giraffe, hippopotamus, sabre-toothed tiger, elephant and land tortoise. Taking note of the lack of maintenance of the park, he assured the officials that he would take up the matter with the state government. Mr A.K. Arora proposed a vote of thanks. Others present on the occasion included Dr K.N. Mathur, Senior Director-General, GSI, Mr Uday Kumar Bassi, in charge, northern region, and a host of other geologists from all over the country. A technical session of experts was held later in the evening to deliberate over the future course of action in the field. Officials said the main aim of holding the seminar in this remote place was to apprise the state government about the lack of neglect being faced by this crucial centre. |
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13,000 posts in Audit Department vacant Shimla, May 6 The central working committee of the association, which met here for two days, pointed out that more than 13,000 posts out of the total 60,000 posts in the department were vacant. Besides, sufficient funds were also not made available due to which the department could not send audit teams to various areas. For instance only 2 per cent of the total expenditure incurred by the Defence Ministry and the post and telecom departments was being covered under audit. Similarly, only a fraction of the accounts of states was being audited. Consequently, very few cases of irregularity, misappropriation and misutilisation came to light. Mr A.B. Sen, secretary-general of the association, said that with the government going for liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation in a big way, it was imperative to strengthen the audit mechanism. The government was withdrawing even from sectors like health, road construction and public distribution system which provided services to the people at lesser lost. With the government spending more and more funds through panchayati raj institutions there was urgent need to bring these institutions under the ambit of audit. The department would require additional 25,000 posts for the purpose. He said the association had decided to participate in the all-India strike of central government employees on May 21 to protest against the anti-people and anti-employee policies of the NDA government at the Centre. |
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VAT: industry to support govt Parwanoo, May 7 He urged the state government to share the draft VAT Act with the industry so that the process of planning, policy making, identification of issues could be addressed in a transparent manner. The industry has expressed serious concern over the fact that neither the states nor the industry were yet adequately prepared for a smooth transition to the VAT regime, he added. Mr Rao said the state government would seek the views and suggestions from the industry and traders before taking the decision on implementation of VAT in the state. He claimed that a number of interactive meetings had been planned with the industry and traders in Mandi, Shimla, Dharamsala and Parwanoo to understand the issues of concern of the industry and the trading community. Allaying state government’s apprehensions that a switch to the VAT
regime could lead to revenue losses, the CII pointed out that international experience had shown positive results in terms of revenue. Practically, none of the countries, which had introduced VAT had lost revenue. The Excise and Taxation Minister was accompanied by a high-powered team comprising Mr Bhim Sen, Secretary, Excise and Taxation, Mr Narinder Chauhan, Commissioner, Excise and Taxation, Mr R.N. Sharma, Additional Excise and Taxation and other senior officials of the Excise and Taxation Department of the state. Earlier, Mr Sunil
Taneja, Vice-Chairman, CII, HP State Council, made a detailed presentation on “value added tax in Himachal Pradesh: Issues and concerns”. He said the critical issues revolved around fixing of revenue-neutral rate by the state government, mismatch between input tax and final tax, treatment of central sales tax, set-off of input tax on branch transferred inter-state sales, homogeneity of VAT and unification of taxes and local levies. |
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Abolition
of user charges ‘eyewash’ Shimla, May 6 Mr Naresh Sharma, spokesperson of the pradesh Congress committee, complimented Mr Virbhadra Singh for withdrawing the charges which had made medical treatment beyond the reach of the poor. He also appreciated the decision of the government to discontinue the practice of hiring private security for hospitals started by the Dhumal government. He said deployment of Home Guards for security would not only save lakhs of rupees but also create job opportunities for the unemployed. Meanwhile, Mr Ganesh Dut, BJP spokesperson, said the claim that user charges had been abolished was misleading as the government had not scrapped the notification vide which the charges were imposed. He claimed that the user charges were first imposed during the Congress regime in 1974 and the rates were increased in 1988. Mr Dut also pointed out that the imposition of user charges was part of senior Congress leader Manmohan Singh’s economic recourse model, which had been implemented in Congress-ruled states. He said the government was taking populist decisions at a time when the state was going through a severe financial crisis. He flayed the decision to review agreements for the execution of hydroelectric power projects and said the BJP would oppose it. |
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HAS-cadre officer arrested Dharamsala, May 6 He was caught red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000 from Mr Sukhjeet Singh Sidhu, a resident of Chilgarhi, for converting his house into a lodge. Mr D.S. Minhas, IG, Vigilance, Shimla, said Dr Kapoor was arrested by a team comprising local police and vigilance officials. In the presence of local witnesses, Rs 10,000 was recovered from the officer. He said a case had been registered. Meanwhile, the Additional District and Sessions Judge, Dharamsala, Mr George, today remanded Dr Kapoor in seven days judicial custody. |
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Garbage
burning
causes forest fire Hamirpur, May 6 The fire started in the morning hours. This is the third time the forest had caught fire due to burning of garbage during the past one week. The civic body has been dumping and burning the garbage inside the thick pine forest of the town daily though the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Devesh Kumar, had recently warned the civic body against the practice. Residents of the town have urged the district administration to stop the burning of garbage inside the forest. |
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Clean-Shimla
drive launched Shimla, May 6 He gave a clarion call to the people
living within and outside the limits of the Municipal Corporation,
Nagar Parishad and all other areas to keep the environment clean. |
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Fire disrupts rail traffic Kumarhatti, May 6 |
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Award for Hindi writer Shimla, May 6 Harnot has been given the award for “Darosh Aur Anya Kahanian,” a collection of short stories. The award will be presented to him at a function to be held in London on July 26.
TNS |
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Liquor worth 5.75 lakh seized Kumarhatti, May 6 |
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