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Chief Minister introduces fiscal responsibility Bill
Dhumal blames Cong for ‘financial crisis’
Girls were not frisked, says school board chief
Carve proper plots for sale, says dept
More parking lots planned for Shimla
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Industrialists rue govt policy Time-bound schedule
for speedy clearances
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Chief Minister introduces fiscal responsibility Bill
Shimla, March 14 As per the provisions of the Bill, the government shall endeavour to reduce the revenue deficit as percentage of the total revenue receipts by at least two percentage points from the previous financial year until revenue balance was achieved. It will also progressively reduce guarantees on long-term debt and take suitable measures to ensure greater transparency in the fiscal operations and minimise secrecy in the preparation of annual budget. The minister in charge of finance shall review after every six months the trends of receipts and expenditure and place before the house the outcome of the exercise along with remedial measures the government proposed to take. Whenever any new policy decision results in a shortfall in revenue or excess expenditure, the government will take measures to fully offset the fiscal impact for the current and future financial years by curtailing the sums authorised to be paid or by taking interim measures for revenue generation. The government will be required to place before the Vidhan Sabha a medium-term fiscal plan setting forth a four-year rolling target for the fiscal indicators and also indicating the use of capital receipts, including borrowings for generating assets. The plan would be laid in the House along with the budget every year. It would also include an evaluation of the performance of the prescribed fiscal indicators in the previous year and the likely performance in the current year and spell out the strategic priorities of the state for the ensuing financial year. The fiscal management policies would be aimed at maintaining the debt, guarantees and other contingent liabilities at prudent levels, ensuring a reasonable degree of stability and predictability in the level of tax burden and integrity of the tax system by minimising special incentives, concessions and exemptions. It would also ensure that non-tax revenue policies took care of the cost of recovery and equity and that sufficient information was disclosed to allow the public to scrutinise the conduct of fiscal policy and the state of public finances. |
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Dhumal blames Cong for ‘financial crisis’
Shimla, March 14 Initiating the debate on the Budget proposals for 2005-06 in the Vidhan Sabha, he said the proposals were not only harsh but also wide-ranging and hardly any category had been left out of the tax net. The new professional tax, increase in electricity duty and the proposal to set up a public tariff commission for water, irrigation, transport and other services would affect all the people. The cut in the subsidies and restrictions in procurement of fruit under the market intervention scheme would hit the farmers He said it was amusing that the party, which was responsible for most of the ills plaguing the financial health of the state, was now talking of fiscal reforms. He said the tale of unending financial hardships started after the then Congress government gave wrong data before the ninth Finance Commission to conceal the real revenue deficit. While the actual deficit was about Rs 200 crore, the government showed only Rs 8.96 crore which resulted in much less devolution of central funds. Further, to meet the budgetary deficit the government raised loans at exorbitantly high rates of interest. Mr Dhumal said that the loan liability was about Rs 5000 crore when he took over as the Chief Minister in 1998 and it increased to Rs 12,393 crore as on March 31,2003. During his tenure only Rs 6951 crore was raised as loan whereas the present government had in less then two years borrowed Rs 6735 crore. He maintained that the present government had not been able to make any significant changes in the agreement signed for the implementation of the Rampur project with the Sutlej Jalvidyut Vikas Nigam and it did not help the employees of the state electricity board sent on deputation to the Nigam. Further, the financial position of the board would worsen with the government deciding to draw 12 per cent free power as royalty from the projects under its control. Mr Kaul Singh, Irrigation and Public Health Minister, maintained that the Budget proposals had nothing to do with MoU on fiscal reforms which would expire on March 31,2005. He said the 12th Finance Commission had appreciated the effort of the government in raising resources , curbing wasteful expenditure and taking out the non-plan expenditure from the plan. The state was likely to secure long-term loan from the World Bank to the tune of Rs 5000 crore to Rs 6000 crore which would enable it to retire the expensive loans. |
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Girls were not frisked, says school board chief
Dharamsala, March 14 Addressing a press conference here today, Mr Rahi said he would “advise” the local Congress MLA, Maj Vijay Singh Mankotia, not to level allegations without confirming facts. “It was a sensitive matter and Major Mankotia should have given his reaction only after getting all information about the matter. Such irresponsible allegations tarnish the image of committed board officials, besides affecting smooth functioning of the board,” said Mr Rahi. “We sent a team of board officials, who, along with the local Tehsildar, looked into the incident that occurred on March 11, and have found it baseless. “We have got written statements of the school Principal and the centre superintendent,” he said. The flying squad had registered 44 unfair means cases, most of these against girls, at that centre. Mr Rahi further said the social science paper for Class VIII at Government Senior Secondary High School, Rakar (Palampur), and the mathematics paper of Class X at Azad Public Senior Secondary School, Dheera, conducted on March 10, had been cancelled. The new dates, along with the new examination centres, would be notified shortly, he added. He further said the board had decided to relieve the Deputy Director (Education) at Hamirpur of examination duties after it was found that he had violated the rules regarding appointment of staff for the conduct of exams. “It was found that he appointed 12 invigilators where only 4 were needed, creating problems in their parent schools. Nearly 150 appointments made by him have been found to be unauthorised and have been cancelled,” he said. The board had also stopped the inquiry into the incident of the alleged scuffle between invigilators and supervisors and parents at Government Senior Secondary School in Deothi (Shimla) on March 12. “We found that it was an incident of mere altercation and the matter was closed after both sides reached a compromise,“ said Mr Rahi. A total of 4,24,062 students of Classes VIII, X, XI and XII, were appearing in exams of the board at 1,473 centres across the state. Till now, 822 unfair means cases had been registered. |
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Carve proper plots for sale, says dept
Shimla, March 14 Even though as per Section 16 -C of the Town and Country Planning Act, it is mandatory for a land owner to seek permission and carve out proper plots for sale but due to lack of implementation, it is hardly being followed. “It is high time that we ensure strict implementation of this Act as already too much of damage has been done,” said TCP officials. Directions are being issued for strict adherence to this Act so that construction is done on plots, which have proper dimensions and are in accordance with the contours. The proper subdivision of land for sale purpose will now be strictly enforced in all major towns of the state, which are part of planning area. Interestingly, it is not just private landowners who are flouting the TCP Act but most of the government agencies engaged in construction activity, including the Housing Board is not undertaking proper subdivision of land. The TCP Department has now decided to create awareness amongst the public, especially landowners that by carving out proper plots, the value of their land will appreciate by at least four times. |
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More parking lots planned for Shimla
Shimla, March 14 Giving this information to the House during question hour Mr G.S. Bali, Transport Minister, said 39 buses of the state road transport corporation and 13 private vehicles were involved in the mishaps. The dependents of the victims were paid Rs 51 lakh as compensation and other assistance and there were no pending cases. Mr Kuldeep Kumar, Industries Minister, told Mr Satpal Satti that an MoU had been signed with J.P. Industries for setting up a cement plant at Bag-Bhalag in Solan district. It would have a capacity of 2 million tonnes. The government had laid the condition that at least 50 per cent of the clinker produced would be used to manufacture cement within the state. He said there would be no loss of revenue in exporting clinker out of the state as the rate of tax on it was even higher than cement. Replying to another question he informed the House that from March 1, 2003 to January 31, 2005 898 new industrial units were set up in the state in which 6,669 Himachalis got employment. Mr Kaul Singh, Irrigation and Public Health Minister, informed Mr Harbhajan Singh that there was a plan to create more car parking lots in the state capital. At present the city had parking space for 742 vehicles and as per the proposal parking for 420 more vehicles would be constructed. |
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Industrialists rue govt policy Baddi, March 14 This option, however, was fraught with a number of clearances from the Revenue and Industries Department as well as financial institutions. The process consumed time and was more laborious than seeking fresh clearances. The vice president of the Himachal chapter of the PHD Chamber of Commerce, Mr S.K. Ghosh, while lamenting the undue delay caused in seeking clearances said the restrictions should only be imposed if plots of government agencies like HPSIDC or the Industries Department were involved. He said the new industrial policy of the state also stated the same but the ground reality was different. As per the state’s industrial policy a state-level industrial revival forum comprising various officials of the industries, Power, Finance, Labour, Excise and Taxation Department was entitled to make recommendations for such a take over, explained officials of the industries departments. They, however, added that an NOC had to be sought from various financial institutions to ensure that the old unit had no pending financial liability. The process, however, involved lengthy clearances from the Revenue Department where the new unit was required to seek various permissions for the new venture. With big industrial units forced to shell crores on land alone taking over of old units was being seen as a means of saving investments. The industrialists were now demanding relaxation in such transfers and they opined that it could also promote the cause of old sick and closed units.
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Time-bound schedule
for speedy clearances Parwanoo, March 14 With a rush of industrialists seeking to invest in the region after the announcement of the new industrial package, undue delays in obtaining clearance had become a cause of concern for the investors. While streamlining the system a 30-minute time has been fixed for provisional registration of any small-scale industrial unit. The various cases of the Prime Minister’s Rozgaar Yojna would now be cleared the same day as they are put up in the member secretary’s office. Similarly any certificate or letter where no spot identification is required would be made available the same day without any delay. A three-day time has been fixed to recommending an essentiality certificate and a week’s time for various works like issuance of permanent registration, commencement of production certificate to large and medium-scale units, recommendation of capital subsidy cases and processing of various forms. A section of investors expressing optimism over this move said similar steps should be taken up by other departments like the Town and Country Planning, Power Department and the Revenue Department to cut down red
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