Chandigarh, April 7
Maintaining its lead position in the tax collections in the North-West Region, Haryana contributed Rs 10,801 crore to the national exchequer -- Rs 829 crore more than Punjab, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh combined together in 2011-12.

While the Office of the Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (CCIT), Panchkula, having jurisdiction all over Haryana, collected a total tax -- both income tax and corporation tax-amounting to Rs 10,801 crore, the offices of the CCITs of Chandigarh, Amritsar, Ludhiana, and Shimla collected an amount of Rs 9,486 crore.The CCIT, Chandigarh, also has jurisdiction over several districts of Punjab, including Mohali, Ropar, Patiala, Sangrur and Barnala, according to the data available.

Data showed that the second highest tax collections of Rs 5,188 crore, which was highest in percentage terms (44.13 per cent) over the last year were reported from the CCIT, Chandigarh. Registering an increase of 29.2 per cent over last year, Haryana registered the second highest growth in percentage terms. The CCIT, Ludhiana, with a tax collection of Rs 2,335 crore registered a growth of 8.3 per cent while the CCIT, Amritsar, was close behind with 1,963 crore tax collections (27.3 per cent growth over last year). Suprisingly, the CCIT, Shimla, with a tax collection of mere Rs 486 crore registered a negative growth of 6.6 per cent over the 2010-11 financial year.

“The North-West Region has exceeded the target of Budget collection set by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) registering a growth of 28.4 per cent as against the national growth of 10.5 per cent,” Jaspal Singh, CCIT, Chandigarh, said.

Meanwhile, the Budget collections during the last financial year were Rs 21,027 crore as against the target of Rs 18,758 crore. In 2010-11, the tax collection was Rs 16,374 crore. Last year, the corporate tax collection was Rs 11,178 crore and income tax collection was Rs 9,823 crore. The contribution of TDS towards the total Budget collection was Rs 11,956 crore(57 per cent).

Official sources said corporates in the state, especially in the National Capital Region (NCR) such as Jindal Steel and Power Limited, the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA), Gurgaon Gramin Bank and Jhajjar Power Limited, contributed significantly to Haryana’s tax collections. 

Sirsa, April 7
As many as 7,700 families found ineligible for the BPL status they were enjoying during a recent resurvey have been given another opportunity to represent their case.

“Those living in urban areas can give their representation in their respective municipal body on April 9 while those from rural areas can visit block development office of their area on April 10,” said Deputy Commissioner J Ganeshan.

As many as 7,700 families drawing benefits reserved for those living below poverty line (BPL) were found ineligible for this purpose during a survey conducted by the authorities in the district.

The survey was conducted pursuant to the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in a civil writ petition Pradeep Kumar Verses State of Haryana.

It was found that as many as 5,052 families living in the rural areas and 2,682 in the urban areas have been enjoying benefits of subsidised ration on the public distribution chain and other schemes run by the central and the state government, though they were not eligible for these due to their better economic status.

In the urban areas of the district, the survey detected 701 families in Sirsa, 500 families in Dabwali, 494 families in Rania, 588 families in Ellenabad and 399 families in Kalanwali, who have been enjoying their BPL status though they did not fit in the parameters fixed by the government for this purpose.

Similarly, in rural areas, the number of BPL families found ineligible for the benefits is Sirsa block (184), Rania (611), Ellenabad (458), Chopta (632), Baragura (868), Odhan (830) and Dabwali (1471).

The BPL cardholders get several monetary benefits, including subsidised food grains. The poorest of the poor under the Antodaya Ann Yojna (AAY) have been given pink cards.

Those having pink cards get foodgrain at Rs 2 per kilogram while other BPL families with yellow cards are provided it at Rs 5 per kilogram.

Besides these, the BPL cardholders get several benefits under the social schemes of the centre and the state. 

Fatehabad, April 7
In a tragic accident involving a Tata 407 mini-truck carrying followers of Dera Sacha Sauda and a tractor-trolley, five women were killed and 23 persons, many of them women, were injured near Badopal village on the Hisar-Fatehabad stretch of NH in the morning today.

The condition of three women is very critical, according to police sources.

The deceased Mamta, Sheela and Kamlesh were in their early twenties while Reshma (45) and Lali Devi (60) are the other two women to have lost their lives in the fierce head-on collision.

The victims had started from the Mill Gate area of Hisar and were going to Sirsa to participate in the satsang at the dera headquarters in Sirsa.

Eyewitnesses said the mishap occurred as soon as the vehicle carrying dera followers crossed Badopal bus stand. A tractor-trolley coming from the opposite direction suddenly suffered a breakdown due to detachment of the hook connecting the tractor with the trolley.

While the tractor fell in a roadside ditch after its driver lost his control over it, the trolley hit fiercely against the vehicle carrying dera followers.

The tractor driver and six labourers travelling in the trolley jumped out to safety before the accident and hence they got away with minor injuries.

The collision was so severe that the mini-truck was reduced to a mangled mass of metal. The passersby rushed the injured to Maharaja Agarsen Medical College, Agroha, and in a Hisar hospital.

However, five women had died by the afternoon and the condition of three others continued to be critical.

Deputy Commissioner ML Kaushik and SP Satinder Kumar Gupta visited the site and went to the hospital to inquire about the victims.

Onlookers said the damage could have been much lesser had the victims not been travelling in an open commercial vehicle overloaded with passengers. 

Kurukshetra, April 7
As many as six scientists, including vice-chancellor, Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, and Director, IISER, Bhopal, were today presented with the Goyal Prize instituted by Kurukshetra University to promote scientific research and development of technology at an impressive ceremony held on the university campus today.

The event was chaired by Prof T Ramasamy, Secretary to the Union Government, who while speaking on the occasion hailed the role played by the universities in creating scientists. He said all great scientists in the country and abroad had been the products of the university system. He added that the country had a great scientific heritage, which was different from other countries as it incorporated integrative and human-oriented science as compared to the deductive science of the western world.

Ramasamy said country’s scientists had great future only if the science teaching and research at the level of universities was strengthened. He said the Union Government had a number of programmes worth Rs 11,000 crore running in the 11th five-year plan to inculcate love of science among young children and youth of the nation, which was going to be increased to Rs 24,000 crore in the 12th plan.

Lt Gen Dr DDS Sandhu, vice-chancellor of Kurukshetra University, said the university had a rare distinction of being the only university, which awarded scientists for their outstanding work at such a large scale. He said the university had already awarded 86 outstanding scientists of the country since 1992, when the awards were instituted by the late Ram S Goyal, who had created an endowment fund at university for these awards.

Scientists who received Goyal Prize, which carried a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh each along with a medal and citation included Dr GD Yadav, vice-chancellor of the Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai; Dr VK Singh, Director of IISER, Bhopal; Dr Narendra Tuteja from ICGEB, New Delhi; Dr Utpal Sarkar, Dr AK Sinphvi and Dr JN Goswami from Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad.

Among young scientists who received Rs 50,000 cash prize besides a medal and citation were Dr N Yayaraman, S K Sathoesh from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and Dr S Ganesh of the IIT, Kanpur.

Hisar, April 7
Ajay Chautala and Kuldeep Bishnoi are engaged in a turf war in the Hisar Lok Sabha constituency. While Bishnoi is trying to keep Chautala out, the latter appears keen on gaining further ground in the area.

Bishnoi is currently touring several Assembly segments of the sprawling Lok Sabha constituency. Ajay Chautala, on the other hand, has recently completed a whistle-stop tour covering all Assembly segments.

Bishnoi was in the Nalwa Assembly constituency today. He touched 24 villages. He vehemently attacked the Chautalas and the Congress for having neglected the SYL Canal issue to the detriment of several areas of Haryana. He said his father, the late Bhajan Lal, got the SYL Canal completed. However, all his successors hobnobbed with Punjab politicians and could not bring Haryana’s share of water to these area.

He said he would keep striving for bringing Haryana’s share of river waters to the state when his party — the HJC — was returned to power.

Bishnoi today completed his tour of all the seven Assembly segments comprising the Hisar Lok Sabha constituency.

On the other hand, Ajay Singh Chautala in his speeches accused the Congress government in Haryana of making the state a safe haven for criminals.

In his speeches, he said the government had failed to ensure the safety of the lives and properties of its citizens. Criminals were having a free run while the police was watching helplessly.

Chautala said five murders taking place in 10 hours in the Chief Minister’s home district, Rohtak, was proof enough that the law and order situation in Haryana had been deteriorating rapidly with the government not taking any steps to curb crime. He said Rohtak and Hisar districts were the worst-affected areas.

Accusing the Chief Minister of being in a constant state of denial so far as the crime situation was concerned, Ajay Chautala said crime and development could never survive together. Law and order were the prerequisites for development.

He said the state was facing an acute shortage of water and power. Farmers were unable to get fertilisers and seeds at reasonable prices. The common man was facing shortage of essential commodities like cooking gas, making life difficult for the people of the state.

Thanking the people of the area for voting for him in the recent byelection to the Hisar Lok Sabha seat, he said if and when his party would return to power, it would not let a single criminal element stay in the state. 

Rohtak, April 7
Construction of swanky buildings on the marginally shifted campus of Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) has been the hallmark of developments in the university over the past few years. While several new buildings have come up for various departments on the large tract of vacant land lying on the eastern side after it was agreed that the old campus buildings would be handed over to the newly set up Health University, the MDU has also got a new entrance gate.

As there was only one gate previously on the main Delhi-Rohtak road, university officials got another one constructed for public use and decided to replace the older one with a new one having a new design and shape. This gate, which is claimed to be built in an arch-type structure with aluminium composite panelling, has been constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 84.02 lakh and will be formally inaugurated on April 8 at a function here. But spending such a big amount on the gate has been a cause of concern and curiosity.

Though many of the visitors, the students and the faculty could claim that the gate would help in providing the university a new identity, there have been others on the campus who feel that spending such a big amount on the gate was a burden on the coffers of the varsity. “I do not understand the move to spend such an amount on construction of a new gate when there was a gate earlier at this spot,’’ claimed a faculty member on condition of anonymity.

He said what the university needed was measures to improve the academic atmosphere and motivate the students and the staff who wanted to do something new in the related fields.

“Besides infrastructure, the university required to improve on various fronts, including academics, as there was still a scope for improvement in classroom teaching and the daily attendance of both the students and the staff,’’ observed Sunil, a student.

Meanwhile, authorities said that Governor Jagannath Pahadia would inaugurate the newly constructed Guest House (Faculty House Extension) and Faculty Club on the campus tomorrow besides laying the foundation stone of faculty flats on the campus.

While the Governor would preside over the convocation function here on April 9, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda would be the guest of honour.

Panchkula, April 7
The concept of healthy living must be introduced at an early stage. It will help in preventing diseases and disability at a later stage in life,” said Navraj Sandhu, Financial Commissioner, and Principal Secretary (Health).

Addressing the delegates at a state-level workshop on World Health Day organised here today Sandhu said, “The theme for this year’s World Health Day, “Good health adds life to years”, opens an entirely new concept in healthcare. She said health was determined by social factors like globalisation, changing family patterns and economic issues and one of the biggest social transformations was population ageing and this had resulted in increased proportion of elderly people in India from 7.7 per cent in 2001 to 8.14 per cent in 2011. She further said that prevalence and incidence of disease as well as hospitalisation costs were much higher in older people, who suffer from multiple and chronic diseases.

Sandhu further said all these factors had led to the concept of, “Active and healthy ageing”. On the one hand, healthy ageing was linked to health in earlier stages of life i.e. what we eat, how physically active we were and our exposure to health risks such as smoking, excess consumption of alcohol, etc. Therefore, it was important that the concept of healthy living was introduced at an early stage which would prevent disease and disability at a later stage.

She also released a news letter, “Haryana Health”, during the seminar in which Director, NRHM, Director, Finance & Accounts, State Programme Officers, Deputy Civil Surgeons and about 150 HCMS doctors from the Civil Hospitals/CHCs of Haryana were present on the occasion.

The message of Health Minister Rao Narendera Singh, read out on the occasion, also reiterated the need for improving healthcare services for elderly patients.

He said elderly men and women, if well cared for, were an invaluable resource and had the potential to be productive members of society and could contribute significantly owing to their experience and wisdom. 

Sonepat, April 7
“Kharkhoda, a dusty town recently upgraded as a subdivisional headquarter, will be developed in a planned way as a model city by the state government,” said the Rohtak MP, Deepender Singh Hooda, while addressing a public meeting at Barona village of Kharkhoda

Assembly constituency on Friday. Deepender said the Kharkhoda region remained neglected in the past and a beginning had been made by this government. He said there would be no shortage of funds for completion of the ongoing projects.

He explained that one of the main objectives of the state government was to invest more in the National Capital Region (NCR) which included five parliamentary constituencies in 12 districts of the state. The revenue generated from these investments could be utilised for the development of out-of-the NCR areas of the state, he added.

“The NCR is full of opportunities and the people should avail these on their doorsteps,” he said, adding that this region had become a priority and a preferential area for large investments even by multi-national companies. He chided the Opposition for making unfounded and baseless allegations against the development schemes of the state government and remarked that pro-development and social welfare policies were not being digested by them.

Hisar, April 7
A retired Colonel and his brother residing here have developed a kind of air-conditioner which maintains room temperature at around 24° Celsius the year round using geothermal energy. They have christened it as a Thermal Control Device.

Col Raj Vijay Rohlania (retd) and his brother, Raj Kumar Rohlania, have developed a technique to substitute the pressurised refrigerant in traditional air-conditioners with underground water to blow cool air inside a room. They say that since underground water is available at a constant temperature of 23° C, it is ideal for cooling rooms in summer and warming rooms in winter. They said the water used in the device was pumped back into the underground aquifer to recharge it. The device could be operated on AC mains, solar power or an inverter. It consumed only 100 watts. Thus the monthly power consumption cost could be less than Rs 500.

They have not yet finalised the market price of the contraption but said it would not cost much and it required very little maintenance. They are waiting for the patent registration and finalisation of the design before arriving at a price.

The FICCI, the University of Texas, the US Department of Science and Technology, the Government of India have selected the contraption for the India Innovation Growth Programme 2012 and invited Col Raj Vijay Rohlania to display it. He was also sent to Goa to further improve the device for "technology commercialisation and entrepreneurship". US scientists have evinced interest in the contraption and have offered help in improving the technology. Interestingly, none of the brothers is an engineer. Both graduated in the humanities stream. 

Karnal, April 7
Dispute over a trivial issue on the NH-1 proved fatal for a canter driver, who was shot dead by another commuter hardly 100 metres from the Gharaunda police station at 2.30 am this morning.

The police said Ravi of Jehri village in Sonepat was shot at by Bharat Bhushan of Delhi after his canter hit the latter’s car near Panipat police toll plaza. Bharat chased Ravi till Gharaunda, where he forced him to stop his canter. After this, he punched Ravi and took out his revolver and fired at him. The bullet hit Ravi in his stomach, after which Bharat flee from the spot. Ravi’s helper, Rahul, informed his family members about the incident, who immediately rushed to the spot.

District police chief Rakesh Arya said when the matter was reported, the staff swung into action and nabbed Bharat Bhushan at a checkpost. He said a case under Section 302 of the IPC and certain sections of the Arms Act had been registered against the accused.