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Friday,
May 16, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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VAT roadmap after consultations: Centre Talks
should focus on Valley: Pak MPs
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Madhumita
called herself ‘Mrs Tripathi’ Consensus eludes central move Ultra
conduit held in Delhi Railways
plan cleanliness drive
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VAT roadmap after consultations: Centre New Delhi, May 15 The VAT regime, which was initially scheduled to come into force from April 1, 2003, and later postponed till June 1, 2003, had threatened to snowball into a major controversy with the government facing embarrassing protests from within its NDA allies as well on the issue. So much so that Finance Minister Jaswant Singh has virtually ruled the roll back from June 1 on the ground that the government was willing to do “patchwork” implementation of the proposal. In a press note issued today, the Finance Ministry said it did not specify the date from which the VAT regime was likely to come into force but maintained that it was committed to the implementation “after full preparation”. “The full benefits of this progressive taxation system can be realised only after all states incorporate the latest set of recommendations of the empowered committee in their respective VAT Bills to pave the way for the introduction of VAT simultaneously in all major states from all regions of the country,” it said. This effectively implies that the government was unlikely to meet the June 1, 2003, date for the implementation of VAT. The Finance Ministry said even though 15 states had agreed to implement VAT from June 1, only West Bengal had sent the amended draft, incorporating the latest decisions of the empowered committee, to the Centre. Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka had conveyed their willingness to have the amendments legislated. The states that had agreed to implement VAT from June 1 were Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Uttaranchal and West Bengal. The Finance Ministry said though Haryana had already implemented the VAT system from April, 2003, the state had not received Presidential assent for their legislation. The ministry had so far received VAT legislations passed by the legislatures of only eight of these states for Presidential assent. They were Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya and West Bengal. Only in respect of Madhya Pradesh had the President communicated his assent. This was in November 2002. The Finance Ministry press note said during an obligatory scrutiny of these legislations by the ministry, it was observed that each of these legislations contained considerable variations from the relevant decisions of the empowered committee itself. |
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Talks should focus on Valley: Pak MPs New Delhi, May 15 “The troubled area between India and Pakistan is the Kashmir Valley only. There is no problem between the two countries on other areas of Jammu and Kashmir,” Mr M.P. Bhandana, MNA Member of Parliament, told The Tribune. He said the two countries should realise that the “turmoil” over the years has been only in the Valley and ways should be found to resolve it. “The Valley should be separated from other parts of the state and granted autonomy for a period of time, and later, a limited plebiscite could be undertaken in the area,” he said, adding that this should continue while the dialogue process and trade and cultural relations are strengthened simultaneously. However, Ms Shakeela Rashid of the MNA party suggested that the talks on Kashmir between India and Pakistan should include the affected persons — Kashmiri leaders from both Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). She said no lasting solution could be found without the participation of Kashmiri people. The delegation coordinator, Mr Ishaq Khan Khakwani of the MNA party, said, “If politicians of both the nations have failed the people so far, then let us as individuals and organisations carry out the task of creating friendship and goodwill.” Agreeing that the initiative taken by the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had sent positive signals and raised hopes of resolving the contentious issues between the two neighbours, the delegates, however, ruled out the Lohia concept of confederation of India and Pakistan or the merger of the two countries like Germany. Ms Rashid said women in particular would look forward to greater interaction with India as they could bring about transformation in society. |
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Madhumita
called herself ‘Mrs Tripathi’ Lucknow, May 15 The Stamp and Registration Minister, Mr Amar Mani Tripathi, who was said to be close to Madhumita, denied having any relation with her. Counterfoils of air tickets found in her house show that she had travelled to Mumbai and several other places as “Mrs A.M. Tripathi” and her age mentioned in the ticket was 22 years. Sources claim Madhumita had travelled to Mumbai in November last along with the minister and the two had stayed in a five-star hotel. The duo had a major tiff when Madhumita entered the dance floor with another young man in the hotel, the sources confirmed. It has also came to light that she had been visiting a private nursing home where her name in the records had been mentioned as “Mrs Tripathi.” Nursing home doctors admitted that Madhumita was under their care during her pregnancy but refused to divulge more details. Her personal diary has several details about her relationship with the BSP minister. A senior police official on the condition of anonymity showed portions of the diary to a section of reporters yesterday. The poetess, in her diary, mentions an incident that occurred in Gorakhpur where she had gone to attend a felicitation ceremony after Mr Tripathi had won the elections last year. The diary gives the details as to how the minister’s wife Madhumani barged into her room late at night and had a war of words over her relationship with Mr Tripathi. Meanwhile, in an unexpected development last night, two constables of the Mahanagar police station broke into Madhumita’s house in Paper Mill Colony and left with a black bag. They were in so much of a hurry that they left the house with the lights on, said an eyewitness. According to Madhumita’s neighbours, two policemen arrived at her flat with a locksmith who broke open the lock. They went in and switched on the lights. The neighbours said they presumed that her family had returned from their village where they had gone for the cremation of the poetess. To express their condolences to the bereaved family some of the neighbours went there and to their astonishment found the police. The “policemen left without giving an explanation,” said a neighbour. The police, however, denied that any of their men had searched Madhumita’s house, but admitted that they had sent two policemen to collect details about the poetess from the neighbours. |
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Consensus eludes central move
New Delhi, May 15 Sources here said since tourism was a ‘state subject’ the opposition from some of the states to the legislation might lead to a delay in Tourism Ministry’s efforts to bring about order at religious places on the lines of the Vaishno Devi Trust. Ministry officials said until all states came together with a common view on improving the management of the religious shrines, the Centre would not be in a position to come forward with the legislation. Without pointing at any of the states, the officials said some of the states were not in favour of the legislation. Besides, there was also a feeling that a politically wrong message could go down in the states if the legislation was brought forward, they added. Mr Jagmohan had convened a meeting of the states’ culture ministers here this week. No consensus could be reached at. |
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Ultra conduit held in Delhi New Delhi, May 15 Acting on a tip-off, sleuths of the Special Cell of the Delhi police laid a trap near Rajiv Gandhi memorial on May 13 and nabbed Zafar Umar Khan, a resident of Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, and havala operator Rakesh as they exchanged money, police sources said. A pistol along with nine cartridges, a cellphone, Rs 4 lakh and diaries were seized from Zafar Umar Khan while two cellphones were seized from Rakesh.
PTI |
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Railways
plan cleanliness drive New Delhi, May 15 The “clean train stations” drive will include cleaning, disinfection and drying of toilets in all reserved coaches, collection of waste, mopping of passenger cabins and spray of anti-mosquito deodorant. According to a press release issued by the Railway Ministry here yesterday, the drive will ensure cleaning of trains at an interval of 10 to 12 hours. |
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