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Complete bandh against
VAT
Favouritism in awarding tenders to be curbed:
Virbhadra
Elementary education to be made
compulsory
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Robbery exposes chinks in policing
Private tuitions stopped, tutor shown the door
HP police gets Insas rifles
Seminar on women and law opens
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Complete bandh against
VAT
Shimla, March 30 The HP Beopar Mandal also submitted a representation to the Deputy Commissioner, which is addressed to the Governor. The members demanded that the VAT should be withdrawn as it was not in the interest of the people of Himachal. They said implementation of the VAT would transfer trade to the neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana. The general secretary of the mandal, Mr Arun Kuthiala, said that the VAT was not suited for Himachal as it was a hill state with difficult terrain. He added that it was for this very reason that no wholesale market had been established so far. DHARAMSALA: Normal life was paralysed in Dharamsala as shopkeepers kept their shutters down on the first day of the bandh, seeking deference of the value-added tax bill. Deputy Commissioner Bharat Khera, however, assured that supply of all essential commodities, especially life saving drugs, would be ensured during the three days of the bandh. He stated this after holding a meeting of the district heads of the police, food, civil supplies, consumer affairs, health, excise and taxation departments here today. MANDI: Shopkeepers and traders observed a complete bandh in protest against the implementation of the VAT system in the state from April, hitting the supply of essential commodities in the town. Though the supply of essential commodities like milk continued from outside the state, the patients suffered as the private chemists in the town kept their shops closed, revealed reports here. The retailers dealing in supply of milk and bread opened their shops briefly in the morning, but they closed afterwards observing the bandh till the filing of this report. NAHAN: All business establishments, including dhabas, barber shops and shops of medicines, remained closed in Nahan, Paonta Sahib, Dadahu, Sarahan, Rajgarh, Dhaulan Kuan, Shillai, Kala Amb, Shilla and Majra today. Members of the Beopar Mandal held meetings at Nahan and Paonta Sahib and held processions against imposition of the VAT. KANGRA:
All shops and business establishments in Kangra town and its suburbs and the nearby towns remained closed. Members of the business community handed over a memorandum to the Prime Minister through the SDM, Kangra, Mr R. Salvem, demanding that the VAT should not be implemented. A large number of pilgrims, who have arrived in the town for pilgrimage, were the worst sufferers. Mr Salvem said that in view of the VAT bandh, a free langar had been started at the Brajeshwari Temple for the pilgrims. UNA:
On a call given by the National Beopar Mandal, all the shopkeepers in Una district observed a complete Bandh. Shops remained closed in Una, Mehatpur, Santokhgarh, Tahliwal, Gagret, Daulatpur Chowk, Amb, Chintpurni, Bangana and Thanakalan. Today even the shops of chemists, doctors, vegetable shops, dhabas and roadside tea stalls, remained closed. No food or tea was available throughout the day on the first day of three days bandh. A large number of traders held a procession in Una town and shouted slogans against VAT and the state government. CHAMBA: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has supported the nationwide movement launched by shopkeepers, traders and other professionals being affected by the VAT. Talking to media persons here today, a senior BJP leader and former
minister, Mr Kishori Lal, criticised the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre and the state for forcibly imposing the VAT on various professionals and traders. Mr Kishori Lal said that the VAT was not only harassment to the traders and other professionals but also another direct burden on the customers, besides sales and central sales taxes, which would hike the prices-level of various commodities and enhance dearness. KULU: Traders here observed a complete bandh today against the forcible implementation of the VAT in the state. All shops, including the chemists, hotels, restaurants, vegetable vendors, tea shops and the rehariwalas remained closed. The Beopar Mandal submitted a memorandum to the government through the Deputy Commissioner. They demonstrated before the office of the Deputy Commissioner shopping slogans against the union and state government. |
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VAT Bill passed after minor
changes
Shimla, March 30 Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, announced during the debate the raising of minimum limit of turnover for taxable income from Rs 4 lakh to Rs 6 lakh and that processed and branded salt along with kerosene, which were placed in the tax bracket of 4 per cent, would be exempted from tax. Changes were incorporated in the Bill through official
amendments. Mr Virbhadra Singh accused the BJP of taking a U-turn on the issue of VAT and said Mr
P.K. Dhumal, the then Chief Minister, had not only supported the new law but also committed to implement the new law during the Chief Ministers’ conference convened by the Centre on June 22, 2000. He said the party was now opposing the Bill on political considerations and not on merit.
Mr Rangila Ram Rao, Excise and Taxation Minister, while replying to the debate on the Bill said the Bill was not brought in haste as the issue was under discussion for the past more than a decade and, in fact, during the NDA regime a decision was taken to implement it from April 2001, which was deferred to 2002 and then 2003 keeping in view the lack of preparedness among states. All the BJP-ruled states had been supporting it and only Uttar Pradesh had reservations. But for the parliamentary elections, the new law would have been implemented from April 2004. He clarified that the tax on packaging material and containers would be charged only at 4 per cent and any ambiguity in this regard would be cleared by an amendment. He said most of the provisions in the Bill were also a part of the General Sales Tax Act and since no new taxes were being imposed, it was not likely to put any additional burden on the people. The objective was to bring uniformity in tax structure across the country and ensure better tax compliance. Honest traders had nothing to fear. Further, most of the items used by common people had been exempted from tax. Earlier, Mr Dhumal called for withdrawal of the Bill on the grounds that it was not properly drafted and suffered from legal and constitutional infirmities. He also said that the Bill was inhuman as it imposed stringent penalties. However, Mr Rao maintained that the Bill had been drafted on the same pattern as the General Sales Tax Act and the arguments put forth by Mr Dhumal had no force. |
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Truckers refuse to call off
stir
Solan, March 30 In a general house meeting of the union convened later, the union decided to continue its agitation. As many as 15-20 families in Rori village and five in Chola had already become homeless and landless with Gujarat Ambuja Cement Limited
(GACL) acquiring land. More families belonging to the five panchayats of
Mangu, Sanghoi, Kashlog, Chandi and Gyana will face a similar fate after fresh acquisition of the notified land. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Rajesh Kumar, who visited the site yesterday told The Tribune that he had directed the other three truck unions to cut down its fleet and furnish a list of those individuals who had more than two trucks. He said as per his February 15 order, an individual would be allowed to ply two trucks only in exceptional circumstances. He said the police would continue to be stationed there till the situation became normal. While directing the golden land losers not to breach law and order, he said other genuine grievances of the union would be looked into. |
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Favouritism in awarding tenders to be curbed:
Virbhadra
Shimla, March 30 Replying to the debate on demands pertaining to roads and bridges in the Vidhan Sabha, he said in view of the complaints of irregularities in the tendering process, it had been decided that tender forms would be issued to all contractors. However, the contractors who had more than two pending works would not be considered for award of a new contract. Further, the contract would be cancelled in case the contractors concerned failed to start work within six months. He said to ensure that quality material was used in the construction of buildings and roads, material testing laboratories had been strengthened. In case it was established that substandard material was used, action would be taken against the contractor concerned and the supervisory staff. Referring to the maintenance of roads, he said although the allocation in the budget had been increasing progressively, the actual amount available was declining as a major chunk of funds was going towards the wages of daily paid workers. The government had now decided to set up a dedicated fund for the purpose and this year an amount of Rs 32 crore had been earmarked for it. He said the government was conducting inquiries into the substandard works executed during the BJP regime and certain glaring cases of favouritism in awarding tenders. |
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Elementary education to be made
compulsory
Shimla, March 30 He said as many as 492 middle, 111 high and 114 senior secondary schools had been opened during the past two years. In all 4,889 posts of teacher and other staff were also created for these schools. Some more posts would be sanctioned in due course. He announced that new schools would be opened only as per requirement and government would consider merger of schools which were not justified as per norms with other schools under rationalisation. He maintained that imbalances were created as the previous BJP government favoured certain constituencies and ignored others. Mr Sat Mahajan, Revenue Minister, assured Mr Sohan lal Thakur that inquiry would be conducted into alleged favouritism during the BJP regime allotment of land to oustees of Ropa village whose land was acquired for the Beas-Sutlej link project. He said the government did not intend to return the surplus land back to the owners and instead utilised it for public works. He said appropriate action would be taken if it was established that land was given back to benefit five influential oustees who were connected with a minister in the Dhumal government. |
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Robbery exposes chinks in policing
Mandi, March 30 Though the police recovered the stolen Maruti car abandoned by the four unidentified robbers from Sungal, 6 km short of Bilaspur town on the highway, yesterday, the residents rued that the robbers drove without being intercepted at the Sundernagar, Slappar and Barmana police posts. What raised the concern of the residents is that the four unidentified persons fiddled around the petrol station to unlock cars parked nearby for some time, but there was no policeman patrolling around. More so, the robbers took an hour to reach Sungal, though the police claimed it reached the spot within 15 minutes, without alerting the police posts at Sundernagar, Slappar and Barmana, the route the robbers took after the robbery. Residents told The Tribune that it was for the first time that such an armed robbery took place in the town. |
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Private tuitions stopped, tutor shown the door Chandigarh, March 30 The officiating Headmaster, Mr Parveen Vashisth, is ensuring the legacy of Prof Chatterjee is on the way out of school, much to the relief of the students and parents. Flooded with complaints against the SMBT Academy for over-charging and not delivering in return, Mr Vashisth was quick to call off the classes. “This was the first thing I did when the school re-opened for the new session in the last week of February. The parents were completely dissatisfied and were sore that the tuitions had been thrust upon their wards who were not interested. When the parents and the students are equally unhappy with the non-performing tutors, the least that the school could have done was to show the tutors the door. We did just that,” he added. Introduced during the term of Prof Gautam Chatterjee, 100 students of Class X and XII had been forced to attend these tuitions at Rs 1000 per month per student. Parents resented the fact that they were paying Rs 1.5 lakh every year to the school for “quality teaching”. However, the school, by employing the services of a private academy, SMBT in this case, was, in fact, admitting that its teaching standards were not upto the mark and that students appearing for board classes needed extra coaching, the parents had reasoned in individual communiques to the Headmaster. However, Prof Chatterjee chose to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to these complaints and went ahead with coaching in violation of school rules and affiliation by-laws of the Central Board of Secondary Education which bans group tuitions on the school campus. As if that was not enough, the school authorities forced students to take tuitions from the coach in the city during the vacations. Interestingly, the tutor, Mr Pranav Mehra, himself a student of Panjab University holding a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry then and residing on the campus, was allowed to approach students to enroll with him while classes were on and was not even qualified to teach. The parents, in separate complaints, had alleged that he was not qualified to teach biology since he had passed his bachelor’s in biochemistry and had limited his teaching to circulating notes. However, when contacted, Mr Mehra denied the charges levelled against him and claimed that students had not been forced to enroll for the coaching classes.
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HP police gets Insas rifles
Shimla, March 30 It is under the modernisation plan with funding from the Centre that Insas and sniper rifles, glock pistols, night vision goggles and binoculars have been acquired. Apart from meeting the requirement of the Himachal Police battalion guarding the Chamba borders against infiltration of J and K militants, forces all over the state will be trained to handle this sophisticated equipment. A consignment of 250 Insas rifles has been acquired by the state police under the modernisation plan to familiarise its forces with the most modern and sophisticated arms and equipment. Though the state had placed an order for 350 such rifles, with heavy demand from the Army, the Border Security Force (BSF), the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and other paramilitary forces, only 250 rifles were received a fortnight ago. The Insas rifles have been acquired from the Ordnance factory at Ishapur in West Bengal. “We had been keen to acquire the Insas rifles for the past some time as these are more sophisticated, lighter with a better firing speed and range,” said an official. He added that this was the latest rifle, which was being preferred over AK- 47 even by the army. A sum of Rs 21 lakh has been spent on these rifles. For modernisation and upgradation of the forces, money is provided by the Centre, with the state having to contribute its share of a matching grant. In the past there have been occasions when the central assistance could not be utilised as the state was unable to shell out its share due to paucity of funds. As such Himachal Pradesh had sought that the state share be reduced to 20 per cent on the pattern of the special category states, but at present the Centre-state share stands at 60 to 40. |
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Seminar on women and law opens
Shimla, March 30 Mr Justice Gupta was speaking at a three-day national seminar on “Women, law and social change in Canada and India: core issues, current status and future perspectives” on the Himachal Pradesh University campus. The seminar is being jointly organised by the Centre for Canadian Studies and Centre for Women’s Studies and Department of Law. Mr Justice Gupta emphasised the need for greater interaction between law practitioners and law teachers and suggested that the Law Department invite judges and lawyers to interact with the faculty and students. In his keynote address, Prof Virender Kumar, an alumni of the Department of Law at Toronto University, Canada and Emeritus Professor at Panjab University compared the functioning of the legal system and legislation in developed and developing countries. |
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Annual Budget passed Shimla, March 30 |
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