Shimla, March 29
The Himachal Pradesh value added tax (VAT) Bill was introduced in the Vidhan Sabha today amidst uproarious scenes with the BJP members protesting against the manner in which the Bill was being moved, without giving it any time to study it.

As soon as Mr Rangila Ram Rao, Excise and Taxation Minister, stood to introduce the Bill, Mr P.K. Dhumal, the Leader of the BJP group, raised objection saying that the Bill had not been circulated to the members 48 hour in advance as required under the rules. He said the Speaker had the power to allow the introduction of the Bill without pre-circulation but it should not be used for such an important Bill.

The Speaker, Mr Gangu Ram Musafir, overruled the objections and asked Mr Rao to introduce the Bill. This enraged the BJP members who protested against the ruling. In the heat of the moment, some opposition members made intemperate remarks. The Speaker tried to restore order but the slogan-shouting continued. He took exception to the conduct of some BJP members and pointed out that defiance of the chair was not a healthy traditions. They could come to his chamber to discuss the matter. He disapproved their conduct and even named Dr Rajiv Bindal and Mr Jai Ram Thakur in this regard.

At this stage, Mr Virbhadra Singh, the Chief Minister, intervened and took serious objection to the conduct of BJP members. He said the Speaker had been very patient and once he had given his ruling the matter ended. He said of late it had become a habit with the BJP members to disregard Speaker’s ruling. He alleged that the party had no respect for parliamentary procedures. Mr Dhumal making objectionable remarks against the chair, had committed contempt of the House, he said.

Later, the Speaker expunged the objectionable words used by Mr Dhumal who maintained that he had no intentions to insult the Chair and his ire was directed against the government.

Mr Rao maintained that there was no time for pre-circulation of the Bill as the new law was to be implemented from April 1, 2005. The VAT was being debated for the past was six years and the previous NDA regime had almost decided to implement it. An empowered committee had achieved consensus on the issue. The BJP-ruled states were more keen to implement it and only the Uttar Pradesh Government had reservation. But suddenly a fortnight back the BJP made a U-turn on the issue and declared that the states where it is in the power VAT would not be implemented.

Shimla, March 29
Even as the Himachal Pradesh value added tax Bill was introduced in Vidhan Sabha today, the state Beopar Mandal gave a call for a 72-hour bandh from March 30 to pressurise the government to defer its implementation.

The Bill seeks to replace the tax on purchases and sales under the Himachal Pradesh General Sales Tax Act by a more rationalised levy which will help fetch revenue of about Rs 500 crore annually.

The goods have been classified into seven categories, including the one exempted, for the levy of tax. While gold, silver and other precious metals, precious stones and ornaments have been kept in the lowest tax bracket of 1 per cent, limestone (L D grade) will attract the highest tax rate of 100 per cent, followed by 30 per cent for timber and non-L D grade limestone.

VAT will be levied at the rate of 20 per cent on lottery tickets and arms and ammunition. The maximum number of 80 items had been placed in the four per cent bracket. These include agricultural implements, all kinds of bricks, all kinds of yarns, utensils, bamboo, betel leaves, bidi, bicycles, branded bread, bulk drugs and medicines, coffee beans, chemical fertilisers, weedicides, fungicides, coir products, edible oils, exercise books, flour, fried grams, gur and jaggery, herbs, hosiery goods, ice, imitation jewellery, kerosene, paddy, rice, wheat, pulses, readymade garments, plastic footwear, paper and newsprint, ores and minerals, pipes of all varieties, processed and branded salt, sewing machines, silk fabrics, skimmed milk powder, spices, sports goods, sugar, tamarind, textile fabrics, tobacco, tractors and threshers, umbrellas, hydrogenated vegetable oil and writing instruments.

The items exempted from VAT include agriculture and horticulture produce, manually operated or animal-driven agriculture implements, aids used by handicapped persons, animal feed, books, periodicals and journals, charkha and Himachali handloom articles, charcoal, coarse grains, condoms, fresh fruits, vegetables and milk, pasteurised milk, garlic, ginger, onions, potatoes, glass bangles, graphite pencils, human blood and blood plasma, kumkum, bindi, and sindur, meat, fish, eggs, raw wool, seeds, green coconut, unbranded blood, unprocessed and unbranded salt and writing slates.

While there is no bracket for taxation at eight percent, all other specified goods had been placed in the 12.5 per cent tax bracket. 

Shimla, March 29
The Himachal Government will soon enact legislation to ensure prudent exploitation of ground water in the hill state. It will also frame a policy to conserve water which is increasingly scarce.

Stating this in the Vidhan Sabha during question hour, Mr Kaul Singh, Irrigation and Public Health Minister, said that hand pumps installed at many places had gone dry due to fall in the water table, which was a matter of concern. He said the government had carried out a survey to assess ground water as per which exploitable reserves were available in over 220 sq km of area in Nurpur and Indora, 95 sq km in the Balh valley, 453 sq km in Una, 230 sq km in Nalagarh and 150 sq km in Paonta.

The government has now decided to conduct a comprehensive survey of the entire state to identify areas where hand pumps could be installed. Exploratory tubewells were also being sunk with the assistance of the Central Water Commission. He said the new legislation, which could be introduced in the next session, would also regulate the use of ground water for commercial and industrial purposes.

Answering to a question, Mr Kaul Singh said in all 13,494 hand pumps had been installed in the state out of which 586 were non-functional. He said while the defective pumps would be repaired, it might not be possible to revive the pumps which had gone dry due to fall in the water table.

Mrs Vidya Stokes, Power Minister, informed the House that the problem of low voltage was being tackled in a phased manner under the accelerated power development and reform programme under which the Centre had sanctioned schemes amounting to Rs 322 crore to the state. New transformers were being installed and the capacity of old substations augmented. The single-phase power lines were being replaced by three-phase lines.

Nurpur, March 29
After running from pillar to post to get justice Sukhdev Sharma, a resident of the Thehar gram panchayat of this subdivision, has knocked the doors of the Chief Minister and the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC), to probe the death of his son. He has sought a high-level probe into the alleged negligence of the Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department and one of its contractors which had resulted in the death of his 29-year-old son, Gulshan.

He has alleged the connivance of the police, the IPH Department and the contractor to hush up the matter by submitting a cancellation report based on the distorted investigations by the local police in court of the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Nurpur, in order to annul the FIR number 376/03 lodged on November 25, 2003.

In an appeal made to the Chief Minister and the rights panel, the father of the victim, who had lost his son in a road accident on the night of November 24, 2003, at Jachh, near here, alleged that the contractor had dug up the national highway to lay underground water pipes. “But no precaution was taken to avert an accident. No signboard or red flag was displayed on the highway,” he claimed.

He alleged that his son who had been coming from the Pathankot side on his motorbike met with a fatal accident on the highway. He held the IPH Department and the contractor responsible for the mishap.

He alleged the police had neither booked the department authorities nor the contractor executing the work in the FIR and after conducting investigations for over one year had given a clean chit to the erring persons responsible for his son’s death.

Taking an exception to the manner in which the police conducted the inquiry, the victim’s father alleged that the inquiry had been conducted to protect the officials concerned.

Kangra, March 29
The police busted an inter-state gang of car lifters and arrested its two members, both residents of Srinagar Jammu and Kashmir, at the Kandwal barrier last night during a naka following information that a car had been stolen from near Trilokpur under Shahpur police station, near here.

Kangra district police chief S.P. Singh said today that following a report lodged by Paramjeet Verma, a resident of Shahpur, that his car (HP-57-1500) was stolen from near Trilokpur at 11 last night, the police was put on an alert and nakas were put up.

He said that fake registration numberplates, fake registration certificates and stickers were seized from the arrested gang members.

He said that the gang members were identified as Mudasar Mohd, a resident of Haba Kadal, Srinagar, and Abdul Gani, a resident of Bimnah, Kashmir.

Hamirpur, March 29
Two schoolgoing children were killed on the spot while two others were injured seriously when the tractor-trailer in which they were travelling overturned near Majnoon village on the border of Hamirpur and Kangra district, 40 km from here today, police sources said.

The accident reportedly took place as the driver lost control over the vehicle. The deceased were identified as Parveen Kumar (12) and Jyoti Prakash (9). While the injured, Azad Singh and Ajay Kumar, had been admitted to Zonal Hospital, Dharamsala and the PGI, Chandigarh, respectively. A case had been registered.

In another accident, 11 persons were wounded when their maxicab fell into a gorge at Kapadi in an interior part of Churah subdivision in Chamba district, 60 km from here last night, a report from Chamba said.

Four of the injured — Bittu, Karam Chand, Nand Lal and Kamli Dev — were reported to be serious and were admitted to hospital at Tissa while seven others were discharged after treatment. — PTI