H A R Y A N A

Cut in aid to states likely
HISAR, April 27 — The Centre may withhold 25 per cent of the Central Plan Assistance to those states and Union Territories which fail to implement the uniform floor rates of sales tax and withdraw sales tax related incentives, it is learnt.

Demand to set up maternity board
ROHTAK, April 27 — The district unit of the All-India Mahila Sanskritik Sanghthan (AIMSS) has demanded setting up of a ‘maternity board’ at the state-level to ensure free and proper medical aid to women during pregnancy in rural and semi-rural areas.

Ban orders issued
SIRSA, April 27 — The District Magistrate, Mr Amit Jha, has issued prohibitory orders in connection with the recent fire in which wheat crop was destroyed.

Record wheat arrival
CHANDIGARH, April 27 — Haryana mandis received 3.06 lakh metric tonnes of wheat on April 24, which is the highest arrival in a single day during the current season.

Students stage dharna
KAITHAL, April 27 — Hundreds of students of the local Haryana College of Technology and Management staged a dharna outside the college today.

2 KU students hurt in firing
KURUKSHETRA, April 27 — Two students of Kurukshetra University were injured when two groups of students clashed on the premises of Bhim Bhavan hostel on university campus here today.

Healing fair at Hisar
CHANDIGARH, April 27 — A two-day free holistic healing and diagnosing fair will be organised by the Ramanand Homoeo and Magnet Therapy Centre, Jind, at Jat Dharmashala, Hisar, from April 29.

Non-implementation of uniform tax
Cut in aid to states likely
From Raman Mohan

HISAR, April 27 — The Centre may withhold 25 per cent of the Central Plan Assistance to those states and Union Territories which fail to implement the uniform floor rates of sales tax and withdraw sales tax related incentives, it is learnt.

Although the deadline for adoption of uniform floor rates and withdrawal of incentives expires on April 30, many states and Union Territories are yet to take both these steps. A meeting of the state finance ministers has been called on May 4 in Delhi at which the states and Union Territories are to submit their reports on the implementation of the two decisions.

The suggestion for withholding a part of the central financial assistance in case of failure to implement uniform sales tax rates had been made to the Union Finance Minister by the Standing Committee of State Finance Ministers to monitor sales tax reforms at its meeting held on November 16 last year.

The West Bengal Finance Minister, Mr Asim Kumar Dasgupta, heads the panel. Other members of the seven-member committee are the finance ministers of Delhi, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

Haryana too is among the states, that have not yet fully implemented the floor rates. The decision had come at time when Assembly elections in Haryana had already been announced. The government then took the plea that it could not implement these decisions because of the enforcement of the moral Code of Conduct. It had sought time to implement the decisions till after the elections.

Later, the government did take certain steps in this direction but was forced to withdraw it because of the failure of the neighbouring states to take similar decisions. For instance, the Haryana Government hiked the sales tax on motor vehicles as part of the process to introduce uniformity in sales tax rates.

However, the Delhi Government failed to do so as a result of which Haryana began to lose considerable revenue, which was transferred to Delhi Government coffers. The tax was brought down to the previous level to prevent loss of precious revenue.

As many as 205 items had been identified for imposition of floor rates throughout the country. However, many states had refused to do so in the case of many items. Haryana, for instance, had refused to hike the tax on fertiliser, diesel and pesticides on the plea that the economy of the state was largely dependent on agriculture and increase in tax on these items would affect farmers in the state.

Although the Centre wanted these rates to be implemented much earlier, but political uncertainty and elections came in the way in case of many states and UTs. These included Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Mizoram and UTs of Daman and Diu, Dadar and Nagar Haveli and Pondicherry.

To ensure early implementation, the Standing Committee of Finance Ministers decided to fix April 30 as the date by which all states would implement the new rates. It also decided not to give any relaxation.

The panel had suggested withholding of central assistance in the case of defaulting states at its last meeting at which the Union Finance Minister was also present. However, the defaulting states as well as the Centre find themselves in a piquant situation as the deadline is due to expire after three days. The summoning of the meeting of finance ministers has, therefore, come as a bolt from the blue for the defaulting states.

Though Haryana is among the defaulters, it is reported to be keen on introducing floor rates. It is learnt that the state stands to earn an additionally revenue of Rs 60 to 70 crore per year with the adoption of floor rates. But at the same time it has no plans to go ahead if the neighbouring states deprive it of revenue by not implementing the uniform rates.

It is learnt that the May 4 meeting is also likely to examine the issue relating to the central sales tax. The demand for sales tax reforms both at the state and the central level had been raised by industry and trade circles all over the country.

Demand to set up maternity board
From Our Correspondent

ROHTAK, April 27 — The district unit of the All-India Mahila Sanskritik Sanghthan (AIMSS) has demanded setting up of a ‘maternity board’ at the state-level to ensure free and proper medical aid to women during pregnancy in rural and semi-rural areas.

At a meeting organised to mark the ‘rights day’ for working women here yesterday the speakers stressed upon the need for providing more and better facilities to working women, including medical and health, at their doorstep. Demanding setting up of a special board to deal with the problem. The AIMSS resolved to express serious concern over the present situation.

While majority of the speakers condemned the present attitude of the authorities on the issue, the sanghthan submitted a memorandum, addressed to the chief minister and the Deputy Commissioner, the speakers claimed that women labourers or workers had not even the basic minimum health facilities, what to speak of doctors, trained nurses or free medicines.

Ban orders issued
From Our Correspondent

SIRSA, April 27 — The District Magistrate, Mr Amit Jha, has issued prohibitory orders in connection with the recent fire in which wheat crop was destroyed.

These prohibitory orders will remain into effect up to May 31. It is generally seen that the farmers after getting their crops harvested set on fire the wheat straw which way lead to a fire.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Commissioner stated that 600 ton of fodder would be supplied to the drought-affected areas of Rajasthan and Gujarat.

He was presiding over a meeting called at his office yesterday in this connection. Sub-Divisional Magistrates, District Revenue Officer, FCI authorities, District Food and Supplies Controller, all tehsildars, naib tehsildars and station supervisors were present at the meeting.

Mr Jha appealed to all voluntary organisations to liberally contribute.

Record wheat arrival
Tribune News service

CHANDIGARH, April 27 — Haryana mandis received 3.06 lakh metric tonnes of wheat on April 24, which is the highest arrival in a single day during the current season.

Stating this here today, a spokesman for the Haryana Food and Supplies Department said 21.82 lakh metric tonnes of wheat had arrived in the state mandis till April 26. Out of the total arrival, the state procuring agencies had procured 21.26 lakh metric tonnes of wheat.

Giving details, he said the Food and Supplies Department had procured 4.75 lakh metric tonnes of wheat, Hafed 8.92 lakh metric tonnes, the Haryana Agro Industries Corporation 2.15 lakh metric tonnes, the Food Corporation of India 1.99 lakh metric tonnes, the Haryana Warehousing Corporation 1.74 lakh metric tonnes and Confed 1.71 lakh metric tonnes.

He said the department had deputed senior officers to visit the mandis and monitor the smooth procurement of wheat so as to avoid any difficulty faced by the farmers in selling their produce. He said that the officers of the state procuring agencies had also been instructed to ensure clearance of mandis on priority and day-to-day basis so as to make space for fresh arrivals.

He said that deputy commissioners and districts heads of department would also visit the mandis for inspection of the procurement operations.

Students stage dharna
From Our Correspondent

KAITHAL, April 27 — Hundreds of students of the local Haryana College of Technology and Management staged a dharna outside the college today.

They were demanding that their college should not be affiliated with Guru Jambeshwar University, Hisar. They said they took admission in this college as it was affiliated with Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra.

However, the decision of the state government to affiliate the college with the GJU had jeopardised their future as the rating of the GJU was much below the KUK, they said. They demanded that the college should continue to be affiliated with KUK.

Traffic remained disrupted for more than an hour and a large number of passengers remained stranded during this period due to the dharna.

The students submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner, Dr Mahavir Singh, in support of their demands.

2 KU students hurt in firing
From Our Correspondent

KURUKSHETRA, April 27 — Two students of Kurukshetra University were injured when two groups of students clashed on the premises of Bhim Bhavan hostel on university campus here today.

BA (first year) student Vineet sustained a bullet injury in the shoulder when he was shot at with a country-made pistol. He was admitted to the local LNJP hospital where the bullet was removed.

Another student Parveen Pannu was also injured.

Drinking of liquor and playing loud music on the hostel premises was reported to be the cause of clash.

No arrest has been made so far.

Healing fair at Hisar
Tribune News service

CHANDIGARH, April 27 — A two-day free holistic healing and diagnosing fair will be organised by the Ramanand Homoeo and Magnet Therapy Centre, Jind, at Jat Dharmashala, Hisar, from April 29.

Dr S.K. Sharma and Dr Prem Chand Gaud from the Holistic Healing Centre, Chandigarh, will treat the patients by body balancing, acupressure and acupuncture techniques.

Plea for IED centres
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 27 — The Haryana government has requested the Union government to sanction Integrated Education for Disabled (IED) centres in Yamunanagar, Panipat, Panchkula, Rewari, Kaithal, Jhajjar and Fatehabad districts of Haryana, an official press note, quoting the Minister of State for Education, Mr Bahadur Singh, said. The press note said that a proposal to this effect was sent by the state government to the Centre.

The press note added that 12 IED centres were already functioning in Haryana at the government secondary school.