ST Deptt increases collection by 39 pc

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 9: The Sales Tax Department has effected an increase of 39 per cent in its collections during the first six months of the current financial year over the collections made during the period last year.

This was stated today during the surprise inspection of the Finance Minister, Mr A R Rather, of the offices of the Sales Tax Department housed in the Old Secretariat, Jammu.

The Minister was told that total collections by the Sales Tax department in the State during the period April-September this year has been of the order of Rs 166.44 crores which is Rs 46.86 crores more than the collections made by the department during the same period last year.

The Finance Minister paid a surprise visit of various wings of the Sales Tax Department in the Old Secretariat premises and inspected the offices of the Deputy Commissioners Sales Tax Appeals, Judicial, recovery and various Assessing Authorities. The Minister checked the records on- spot to look into the working of these wings of the department. He made numerous enquires about the systems adopted and improvements effected by these wings in assessment and recoveries of the sales tax. The Minister issued on-spot instructions for effecting further improvements in their working.

The Minister was apprised of the steps taken this year by the department in speeding up the process of disposal of cases, collection of sales tax as also the measures taken for early disposal of the appeals preferred by the Sales Tax assesses. The Minister was told that while the process of persuations for recovery of sales tax arrears continues, the department has initiated stringent measures provided under law for those who have failed to respond and clear the liabilities. The special campaign launched in this regard has yielded encouraging results and number of the dealers have come forward and deposited their arrears. The Minister was told that the assessment of sales tax has also been speeded up which has largely helped in improving the revenue collections.

The Minister called upon the Assessing Authorities to ensure speedy disposal of the pending assessment cases.

Mr Rather laid emphasis on speedy recovery of sales tax arrears from the defaulters and called upon the functionaries to redouble their efforts to collect the tax arrears. He said though the recovery position has shown improvements during the current year, yet we are far off from the target. Huge amounts are outstanding against the defaulters and we have to make every effort to have the same collected within the minimum possible time.

Our State, Mr Rather said cannot afford the luxury of huge amounts of tax arrears remaining uncovered. No leniency, whatsoever has to be shown against the defaulters. The status, position or any other factor will be of no consequence in effecting recoveries. Where the persusations fail the Minister said, the law has to take its own course, howsoever harsh it may be.

The Finance Minister said that entire machinery of the department has to be geared up. Every functionary will be made accountable for the targets assigned and achievements made. Any laxity in this regard, he said, will be viewed seriously and it would attract stern action against the delinquency.

Senior functionaries of the department, he said should closely monitor the revenue collections and take required steps for improving the revenues.

The Sales Tax Commissioner, Mr A R Mubaraki and Special Secretary, Finance, Mr K M Wani were present during the surprise visit.

Hostility puts peace process in jeopardy: Farooq
‘No better option than peace for India, Pakistan’

Excelsior Correspondent

KISHTWAR, Nov 9: Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah today said the atmosphere of hostility in Indian sub-continent would further vitiate peace prospects and retard development, resulting in miseries to people.

‘India and Pakistan cannot afford animosity for long as people of both the nations would continue to suffer in the atmosphere of mistrust and tension’, Dr Abdullah said after inaugurating Islamia Faridya Educational and Research Centre here this morning. He hoped the two neighbours would one day realise the futility of enmity and sink their differences to come closer. ‘There is no better option than peace between India and Pakistan’, he said, adding that the developments in Europe have shown right path to rest of the world that peace and friendship is the only answer to ameliorate peoples’ lot. This situation, he said, is conducive for development and prosperity.

Dr Abdullah referred to militancy and said that violence in past decade has adversely affected the people and the state in all respects. ‘But for militancy, Jammu and Kashmir would have marched ahead and solved many pressing problems especially in sectors of power, public health engineering, education, communication etc. to a large extent by now’, he added.

Lauding the efforts of the management of the Islamia Faridya Educational Centre, the Chief Minister announced that admission in the Centre would be open to all children irrespective of religion or cast. He urged teachers to take their profession as a sacred mission and work with devotion to ensure that the students get better and quality education. He said teachers are the real architects of the nation and are responsible in shaping the destiny of the younger generation.

Dr Abdullah sanctioned Rs 5 lakh on-the-spot for the purchase of laboratory facilities to the students of the local Government Degree College till its laboratory block was completed.

The Chief Minister underlined the need for starting computer coaching classes at the Centre. He said children and students of other institutes, who wish to receive computer training there, should be provided with the facility at concessional rates and the amount so earned utilized for maintenance of computers.

The Chief Minister said that it was unfortunate that the State did not produce trained teachers in the past and as such there was need to get more and more students enrolled in B Ed colleges at Srinagar and Jammu to produce trained teachers. He said B Ed college, which is expected to come up at Kishtwar, should be named after Mr. Om Mehta, the son of the soil who had great love for the area and its people.

Earlier, the Minister for Social Welfare, Mr. B A Kitchloo welcomed the Chief Minister for making it convenient to inaugurate the Centre, which was started about 100 years back as Islamia Primary School. He said the complex of the Centre has been completed at a cost of Rs 1.28 crore.

The Minister for Forests, Peerzada Ghulam Ahmed Shah and a number of prominent political and social leaders besides galaxy of educationists were present on the occasion.

Katra to be developed as Model Town- Shah

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 9: The Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Mr Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din Shah has said that Government is keen to implement Katra Master Plan 1999-2020 very soon.

Mr Shah was presiding over one day seminar on Katra Master Plan at Katra today organised by Notified Area Committee, Katra and Directorate of Local Bodies, Jammu.

The Minister said that while finalising the Master Plan, the religious and tourist importance of the town should be kept in view and needs of the pilgrims and tourists be catered to in terms of basic facilities.

Mr Shah said that under the Municipal Corporation Act, a Finance Commission is being set up to recommend measures to make the local bodies self reliant and ensure their smooth functioning. He said that the local bodies are being strengthened so as to make them effective.

The Minister sought full cooperation of everyone in finalising and implementing the Katra Master Plan and said that we should pool our efforts to make Katra a model town. He said that the objections and suggestions of the citizens would be examined by an expert committee before incorporating in the Plan. Referring to the various suggestions made by the prominent citizens, the Minister said that a pragmatic approach needed to finalise and implement the Plan keeping in view growing requirements of the citizens and visiting pilgrims.

Mr Shah said that meeting of the heads of departments connected with the implementation of the Katra Master Plan would be convened shortly to discuss the core issues in this regard. He thanked the public representatives for taking active part in the deliberations of today’s seminar.

Earlier, the Principal Secretary, Housing and Urban Development, Mr S L Sailova called upon the senior officers of the concerned departments to furnish the details of their requirements to be incorporated in the Master Plan before issuing the notification.

Among others who attended the seminar included Mr. Jagjivan Lal, MLA, Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Mr. Anil Goswami, Deputy Commissioner, Udhampur, representatives of Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Katra, Hotel and Restaurant Association, Katra and prominent citizens of Katra.

Samooh Theatre presents Dogri play ‘Adha Sach’

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 9: Samooh Theatre staged Dogri Play "Adha Sach", based on human psychology and terrorism at Abhinav Theatre recently.

As per a release the play directed and translated from Hindi to Dogri by Sudhir Mahajan had the music composed by Bhupinder Singh.

The play depicts the consequences of terrorism, sex exploitation, and bloodshed prevailing in the modern society. Other side of the play reflects why the truth, values and ethics are missing in our day to day life.

The whole story of the play is focussed on a rape incident of a woman and murder of her husband, who witnessed the incident, by a jungle dacoit namely Tajomaro. The victim woman, her husband’s soul (called by a jugglar through his magic) and culprit dacoit (who is arrested by police) and only eye-witness Lakarhara are summoned by court for recording their statements before the judge. The victim, culprit and eye witness tell half truth story in the court, which is totally different to the statement of each other. In the end the play concluded through a Vidhushik namely Bigmaker that this is the tendency of human being who speak a bit truth, which can easily be believed by all.

Those in the main lead of the play included Sudhir Mahajan (Tajomaro), Varsha Dogra (Patni), Yasir Nissar Khan (Pati), Dhanesh Dogra (Boudh Bhikshu), Satish Kumar (Bigmaker), Kulbir Singh (Lakarhara), Sunil Kumar (Deputy) and Shilpa Kotwal (Jadugarni). The play was assisted by Yasir Nissar Khan and Mohd Sheikh Kalyan.

Prof R R Sharma, Vice Chancellor, University of Jammu was the chief guest and Prof Lalit Magotra presided over the function.

Centre sanctions 6 water supply projects
for Jammu region

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 9: The Centre Ground Water Board (CGWB) has sanctioned six pilot projects at Kathua and Jammu for harvesting rain waters to meet the ever increasing demand for water. This was disclosed by Union Minister of Water Resources, Mr Arjun Charan Sethi while dedicating Roof Top Rain Harvesting Structure at Nirmal Bhawan this afternoon.

Mr Sethi said that the concept of Rooftop Harvesting through very primitive in our country, yet the modern technology has given it the new impetus. "The Central Ground Water Board under the Ministry of Water Resources has formulated such schemes at number of places in the country and also in the J&K State", he said.

Minister said that rain water stored at the time of its abundant availability and its utilisation at the time of need was the main objective of this scheme. "Besides raising the ground water level, this is bound to change the ecological balance resulting in increasing the soil moisture and consequently increasing the vegetation cover of the area" he informed and hoped that formulating such more schemes by CGWB will usher a new environmental and ecological balance in the country and the State.

Minister also assured that gathering that a comprehensive water supply scheme would be formulated for the holy town of Katra- the base camp of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine.

In his address, Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Prof. Chaman Lal Gupta has strongly criticised State Government for not implementing properly, some water schemes sanctioned by the Centre. Prof Gupta said that Centre has sanctioned a special water supply scheme for Udhampur and Srinagar districts of the State but State authorities have yet not started work on these projects.

He said that Union Minister of Water Resources, Mr Arjun Charan Sethi during his visit to the holy Shrine of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi has announced to dig at tube-well in the Katra town to remove the acute shortage of drinking water in the town.

Dr. S K Sharma, Director Central Ground Water Board, while addressing the function said that Board was seriously thinking to implement various scheme to provide water in the Kandi belt of the Jammu region.

Regarding Rooftop Rain Water Harvesting, Dr Sharma said that it was collection of rain water from roof of the building and stored as ground for future benefit. "This is an ideal solution for water problem where there is inadequate ground water supply of surface resources and are either lacking or insignificant", he said, adding, "rainwater is bacterilogically pure and free from organic matter and soft in nature and rainwater may be harnessed at place of need and may be utilised at time of need".

Listing advantages of this scheme, Dr Sharma said that it was required to meet the ever increasing demand for water in urban and rural areas and to augment the ground water storage and control decline of water levels.

BJP MLAs from Gandhi Nagar, Choudhary Piara Singh and Jammu West constituency, Hansraj Dogra also addressed the function.

Round table discussion on Indo-Pak relations held at JU

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 9: On the second day of the conference on Asia and Pacific Studies, a round-table discussions on the whole gamit of Indo-Pak relations, was held here today.

Professor R R Sharma, Vice Chancellor of University of Jammu, who chaired, said India should initiate dialogue with Pakistan at the opportune time and appropriate level to improve the relations between the two neighbouring countries. All the issues can be addressed and tackled provided both sides make sincere and sustained endeavours.

Mr Balraj Puri, co-chairman of the session, underlined the need for Pakistan studies so as to have knowledge about the diversities in democratic aspirations and proper identity of Sindhis, Punjabis, Pakhtoons, Mohajirs and others for dealing with Pakistan.

Prof S D Muni underscored that dialogue with Pakistan should not be held at the present juncture as the Pak military ruler may not be in a position to sell the solution to their people. Moreover, the isolated military regime is promoting cross-border terrorism and is not sincere to tackle the real issues between the two nations but merely gain legitimacy.

Tracing the historical background, Prof Muni said that a number of times dialogues and discussions were held with Pakistan but with no fruitful result. Talks were held in 1953-54, 1958-59, Swaran Singh-Mr ZA Bhutoo in 1962-63, at Shimla in 1972, 1979-80 and even in 1999 when Indian Prime Minister went to Lahore. Actually, Pak military establishment has decisive influence on political system and has developed vested interest in keeping the Kashmir issue alive. He, however, favoured the people to people and other contacts to go on for flow of ideas and visitors. He advocated unilateral relaxing of visas rather than waiting for reciprocity by Pakistani side.

Prof Hari Om dealt on the plight of Pakistan after military defeat and diplomatic isolation in the post-Kargil period. He pointed out that Northern Areas are being illegally held by Pakistan. He surveyed the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and underscored the need for meeting aspirations of the people in three distinct regions of the State.

Prof Noor Ahmed Baba spoke on the pan-Islamic factor in the Indo-Pak relations and the stand taken by the OIC on Kashmir issue. He said it has been making " verbal noise" only and doing practically nothing.

Mr M M Khajooria, former DGP, pleaded that India should take up question of illegal occupation of one-third of J&K State’s terrority, gross violation of Shimla and other agreements as also indulging in cross border terrorism. He favoured the efforts at people’s level to improve Indo-Pak relations.

Sonia revived Congress: Charak

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 9: Exuding confidence over the dynamic leadership of Mrs Sonia Gandhi, Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) fully supported her candidature for the election of presidentship of AICC.

Addressing the media-men here today, Mr Gulchain Singh Charak, vice-president, incharge Press and Publicity, PCC, imposed full faith over the leadership of Mrs Sonia Gandhi and held her solely responsible for the revival of the party which is mustering strength day-by-day.

"The recent overwhelming success of Congress in Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) showed that people have full faith in Sonia Gandhi", Mr Charak claimed and said that at this crucial juncture when BJP-led NDA Government has created nuisance by its wrong policies, only Sonia led Congress can provide stable Government.

"Despite the efforts of some vested interests to communalise LAHDC elections by killing Buddhist monk, Congress emerged as winner with thumping majority", PCC vice-president said and congratulated the party workers on the overwhelming success and thanked the public for their dedicated support.

When asked about the presence of Mr Jitendra Prasada against Mrs Sonia Gandhi for the party presidential election, he said Prasada candidature is no match for Sonia and will not affect latter’s sure win. He claimed that all the voters from State would register their verdict in favour of Mrs Gandhi and that Mr Prasada would not pool a single vote from the State.

He, while condemning the gruesome killing of Aga Syed Mehdi—the veteran Congress leader, demanded judicial enquiry into the incident to find out the lapses and to book those responsible for the killing. He stressed upon the authorities to provide foolproof security to the political leaders to ensure their safe movements in the suburban areas.

Mr Charak also demanded compensation for the border people who could not harvest their crops due to the incessant firing from across the border by Pakistani rangers. Besides, enhancement of remunerations of Numberdars, Chowkidars, revision of electoral rolls before the Panchayat elections failing which elections would be futile and purposeless.

Seminar on Legal Services Day held

Excelsior Correspondent

Jammu, Nov 9: The Principal District Sessions Judge, Mr. Harbans Lal, who is also the Chairman District Legal Services, has emphasised the need for change in the attitude of the persons who are directly or indirectly involved in the process of administration of justice.

Speaking at seminar on the Legal Service Day here today, Mr. Lal said that the judiciary alone cannot bear this burden. He said it needs cooperation from all sections of the society as well as the administration and police. He said that to get justice is the legal right of every individual, rich or poor, educated or illiterate. But, he said the fact remains that the weaker sections of the society are denied this justice. Our criminal system, Mr. Lal said, has failed to protect us. It has begun giving shelter to criminals and their friends. The State, he said, has become the biggest litigant as regards the civil cases and service matters.

Concept of the Lok Adalats, Mr. Lal said, has been borrowed from the old Panchayat system and it shows good and encouraging results. The justice through Lok Adalats, he said, is not only to reduce pending cases in the courts but to make the litigants in particular and public in general understand the importance of mitigating their differences and settlement of disputes by negotiations.

Mr. Lal said there can not be better method for effective justice than the mediation and conciliation. Legal literacy programmes, he said, need to be organised to educate the masses not only about the legal rights and manner in which they can be achieved but also their legal duties to differentiate between what is just and how to do justice to others.

The Chairman said the legal aid scheme needed to be publicised widely through print and electronic media so that everyone, rich or poor, literate or illiterate are made to understand that dispute once having erupted has to be resolved for peaceful living and healthy society. Lok Adalats he said, is one of the methodology, which is un-expensive, un-complicated, speedy and un-polluted. The main aim of Lok Adalats is the amicable settlement of the existing disputes by mediation or conciliation and also to reduce the chances of eruption of disputes. Conciliation and counselling, he said, enable the litigants understand the substantiality of their stand and thereby take a wiser decision in favour of mitigation rather than confrontation.

In most of the cases, Mr. Lal said legal ignorance remains the basic cause of un-necessary litigation. So legal awareness need to be given the top priority. The advocates, he said, can do a great service by bringing this legal awareness among those who need it and can provide free legal aid to the weaker sections of the society. The retired police and prosecuting officers and judges, Mr. Lal said, can also do a great service by explaining the legal implications and the proper course of action.

The City Judge, Jammu, Kunwar Jit Singh Kanwal, who had organised the seminar emphasised the need for speedy disposal of cases. In this context he referred to the Lok Adalat Act and said that the spirit of this Act is to provide legal assistance to the litigants.

The President, Jammu Bar Association, Mr. Daljit Singh and the DIG, Police, Mr. S.P. Vaid were among those who spoke in the seminar.

Ban imposed on processions

Excelsior Correspondent

Jammu, Nov 9: The District Magistrate, Jammu, Mr. R.K.Goyal, has banned taking out of processions and shouting of provocative slogans by individuals or groups on the route from Geeta Bhawan to Rameshwar temple in Jammu city.

This is in continuation to the previous order issued by the District Magistrate on November 4, this year.

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