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Hooda seeks slice of service tax, suggests pragmatic planning
Birender's rally a damp squib
Justice not delayed
Professor gets patent for safe bridges device
Mobile canteen for ex-servicemen
Sale of abortion drugs regulated
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Hooda seeks slice of service tax, suggests pragmatic planning
New Delhi, December 9 “If and when Central Sales Tax is abolished, the states should be suitably compensated by the Centre. This loss in revenue would otherwise make a major dent in the resources of the state. The Centre should evolve a separate formula for sharing the Service Tax collected from a state with that state,” the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, said while addressing the National Development Council (NDC) meet here. He said: “In the alternative, the states should be allowed to tax some of the services which may be identified in consultation with the state governments.” Mr Hooda criticised the present system of dividing the states’ expenditure into Plan and Non-Plan as an inefficient way to allocate resources. “Since slots and account heads are pre-determined, we start by making nominal increases in allocation to each and every slot from year to year. State governments have problems in fitting in their priorities in the annual plans,” the Chief Minister said. Mr Hooda said introducing such artificial accounting constraints led to distortions in the planning process. “This seemed to be the right time to “move towards a system where planning process takes into account all public expenditure and allows the required flexibility to the state governments to identify priorities, programmes, and projects and decide the scheduling of the expenditure in a more pragmatic manner. Such a system might eventually lead us to zero-base budgeting,” he asserted. Mr Hooda drew the attention of the Planning Commission and the Union Government towards the longstanding problems of Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal and construction of storage reservoirs in the upper reaches of Yamuna saying that solutions to these problems had to be found during the 11th Plan period. He said construction of storage reservoirs like Kishau, Lakhwar-Vyasi and Renuka in the upper reaches of Yamuna was important not only for Haryana but also for the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Agriculture being the most critical sector for the people of Haryana, highest priority should be given to the irrigation sector of the state, he added. Pointing out that more than three million acre feet of water has been still flowing to Pakistan through Ravi river, he suggested the construction of storage reservoirs on Ujh and Basantar, which were tributaries of Ravi. Mr Hooda said a barrage across Ravi river at a suitable location and a canal to link this barrage with river Beas upstream of Harike also needed to be put up. If these projects were completed, the precious water that had been flowing to Pakistan could be utilised in all water-deficit basin states. He sought high priority of the Central assistance for state’s power generation efforts as it did not have hydel or mineral resources. He said the interest subsidy, as originally assured, should be released for the power generation units set up and initiated during the 10th Plan period. He also sought Central intervention in the power-trading market with a suitable mechanism to ensure that no state or entity earned undue profits from the distress of power-deficit states. He pointed out that despite Central legislation that no entity would indulge in profiteering in the sale of surplus power, Haryana had often to buy power at exorbitant prices. |
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Birender's rally a damp squib
Fatehabad, December 9 Thousands of guest teachers, who had "We did not get a chance to put forward our demands as the stage was hijacked by the Berozgar Yuva Sangathan," said Mr Sanjiv Kumar, president of the State Guest Teachers Association, while talking to The Tribune after the rally. Several other guest teachers maintained that they had come to the rally with high expectations but were going back empty-handed. The rally, organised to mark the birthday of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, was addressed by Congress Working Committee member Parvez Hashmi, senior Congress leader Khursheed Ahmed and Bharatiya Kisan Union (Haryana) president Ghasi Ram Nain, among others. Mr Bharat Singh Beniwal, Congress MLA from Darba Kalan, was the lone sitting member of the Assembly present on the occasion. The local MLA, Mr Dura Ram, who had been accompanying the minister during his visits to the town in the run-up to today's rally, did not attend the rally. Mr Birender Singh exhorted the farmers to unite and back the Congress to improve their lot. He praised Ms Sonia Gandhi for championing the cause of the unemployed youth as well as the farmers. Taking a dig at former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, the minister accused him of misguiding the youth and the for further vested interests. Other speakers tried to project the Jat leader as a "messiah" of the farmers and the youth. While they praised UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Mr Birender Singh, most refrained from mentioning the name of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Similarly, the hoardings put up at the venue had pictures of Ms Sonia Gandhi and Mr Birender Singh. However, in his speech, the Finance Minister praised the Chief Minister, though in an indirect manner. Another interesting aspect was the repeated rendition of popular Hindi song "Hum honge kamayaab…" during the rally.
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Justice not delayed
Yamunanagar, December 9 The court today sentenced a Nepal national to life imprisonment for murdering the mother of a former president of the District Bar Association. The body of the victim, Sarojni Devi, was found lying in a pool of blood in her house in Khanpur village here in the wee hours of August 13. Her throat was slit with a kitchen knife. District and Sessions Judge Virender Singh awarded life imprisonment under Section 302 of the IPC to 20-year-old Prem Bahadur, a Nepal national, and sentenced three years under Section 457 of the IPC. The judge also imposed a fine of Rs 6,000 on him. In case of default, he will have to spend another year in jail. Both the sentences will run concurrently. Prem Bahadur was working as a domestic help in the house of the victim. Mr Shashi Kant Sharma, District Attorney, informed that 12 witnesses were examined and the judgment was announced in just two months. After the murder, Prem Bahadur stole gold jewellery and cash from the house. The stolen items were later recovered from a heap of dung cakes at the rear of the house. The knife used in the murder was also recovered. The victim was the mother of former Bar Association president B.S Chauhan. Another son of the victim, Mr Ashok Rana, was Sarpanch of the village and she belonged to a well-known Zamindar family of the area. Interestingly, the Chauhan family had hired Bahadur only two weeks prior to the day of the murder. The case was registered on a complaint by Mr Amrit Singh, husband of the victim. Meanwhile, the SP, Mr K.V Ramana, has appealed to all residents to get antecedents of their servants and tenants verified. |
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Professor gets patent for safe bridges device
Ambala , December 9 Mr Garg told that the patent was granted by Union Ministry of Industry and Commerce for successfully developing a scour protection device for reducing erosion of bed soil around bridge pier, thereby protecting the bridge pier from failure. He said that the bridges were the lifeline of transportation network of a country since they facilitate the movement of man and material from one place to other. Failure of an important bridge could cause catastrophe for any country, he added He said that the collapse of bridge due to pier failure was primarily attributed to scour around bridge pier. It generally happened during flood in Monsson. Research was going on through out the world to curb the possibility of failure of bridges due to pier failure. Mr Garg said that the device had been tested in laboratory for field conditions and is found to be highly effective for degrading rivers also. The device could be constructed monolithically with bridge pier, so this
device was easy to install, he said. The device consists of series of collar plates of smaller diameter which provided around bridge pier. The composite device is known as series of collar plates. It is successful in lowering river bed during flood. |
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Mobile canteen for ex-servicemen
Ambala, December 9 GOC, Kharga Corps, Lt General VK Singh addressed ex-servicemen at a well-attended district-level rally held at Convoy Ground, in Ambala Cantt, today. General Singh said the mobile CSD canteen service will be available at Barara Tehsil Headquarters every Tuesday and Friday. He said ex-servicemen rally are held regularly for interaction, medical camps, providing financial assistance to needy widows of ex-servicemen, and to inform about various facilities being extended to ex-servicemen by Army and the district administration. He heard the grievances of the ex-servicemen and assured them that their matters will be looked into. Deputy Commissioner (Ambala), Mr OP Langayan said soldiers from Haryana have made the supreme sacrifice in wars. He added that for ex-servicemen who had participated in wars before independence, the Haryana Government has increased the financial assistance from Rs 500 to Rs 800 per month. He said for the marriage of children of soldiers who have attained martyrdom and are 100 per cent disabled , the government has increased financial assistance from Rs 6000 to Rs 11000. There is also reservation for soldiers and ex-servicemen in group housing societies. Haryana ex-servicemen league president, Lt Col MS Jakhar, said the Haryana league headquarters is in Rohtak, while the Ambala district headquarters is in Defence Colony. He said the league helps ex-servicemen in solving their problems. |
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Sale of abortion drugs regulated
Ambala, December 9 Ambala Deputy Commissioner O.P. Langayan has passed orders for regulating drugs under Section 144. The medicines will not be sold except on the prescription of a registered and practising gynaecologist within Ambala. The prescription to be retained by the chemist along with the record and bill for sale. It has been ordered that every chemist selling the medicines will submit monthly details along with a copy of the prescription along with stock of such medicines, medicines sold and medicines remaining in the stock to the Civil Surgeon, Ambala, by seventh of each month. The Civil Surgeon, Ambala, will monitor the receipt of the data form of the chemists. The drugs which have been banned from open sale include RU 486 (mifepristone) popular brand name Mifty, Misoprostol popular brand name Cytolog, Carboprost Tromethamine popular brand name Endoprost and Prostodine, Ethacrdil popular brand name Emcradil, Cerviprime popular brand name Cervigel. |
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