New bus stands for Rampur, Palampur get nod
Shimla: The Himachal cabinet decided to exempt new aerial ropeways from entertainment duty for 5 years, approved bringing direct to home (DTH) TV services under entertainment duty ambit, approved construction of modern bus stands at Rohru and Palampur and increased welfare measures for physically challenged persons.
To generate new sources of revenue, the cabinet presided over by chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal that met on Thursday morning decided bring DTH TV services under the ambit of entertainment duty tax.
Explaining the rationale, Ajay Mittal, principal secretary excise & taxation said that since entertainment duty is already being imposed on cable television, the cabinet approved of extending onto DTH services. The duty would only be imposed after an amendment in the law, proposed to be carried out, is approved by the legislative assembly.
Cabinet also approved amendment in Section 26 in the Himachal Pradesh Excise Bill, 2009.
The cabinet also decided to exempt aerial ropeways for 5 years from payment of entertainment duty after it came into operation.
At the same time, the top decision making body also decided to reduce entertainment duty from 25 percent to 15 for existing aerial ropeways.
The duty was only imposed from this financial year and there are four ropeways operating in the state at Solang, Naina Devi, Timber Trail and Jabli.
Cabinet gave its nod for constructing bus stands at Rohru and Palampur on private public partnership (PPP) mode for a concessional period of 40 years. The bus stands would also have provisions for multi-storey parking space and shopping malls.
It accepted the proposal to cancel allotment of the four self identified mini hydro electric projects for non-compliance of norms under the states power policy.
Approval was given for scholarships for disabled day scholars from Rs 350 to 750 and for borders from Rs 1000 to 2000 per month. For marrying a disabled person the cabinet increased an incentive for the spouse upto Rs 25000. In case both were disabled the amount would be given to both, said a cabinet spokesman.
NGOs doing a commendable job in disability would be awarded a cash prize of Rs 10,000, he added.
The cabinet granted permission to recruit 1293 JBT and 20 Teachers Training Course qualified candidates from St. Bede’s College of 2008-10 batches.
Status of the 10 bedded hospital at government Ayurvedic Health Centre, Sulyali in Nurpur tehsil of Kangra district was restored by the cabinet.
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads a team of media professionals at Hill Post.
Spanning a career of over two decades in mass communication, as a Documentary Filmmaker, TV journalist, Print Media journalist and with Online & Social Media, he brings with him a vast experience. He lives in Shimla.
I feel pity on our top babus mooting ridiculous ideas and thinking for larger policy dissemination. Tax on DTH service……! Is TV viewing a luxurious item anymore or a basic household requirement. Comparing it with cable TV is also illogical.
Has the department of excise ever tried to find the exact amount of tax evasion by the cable operators who showed less than 50% connections thereby exploiting public at large. For taxmen it was priviledge to milk the business enterprises that way.
Under DTH regime there is no service provider at state level. Central government has already taxed DTH operators heavily and therefore, the consumers are already feeling the punch. Now it is beyond imagination how tax is planned to extract from a mere Rs 300, spend by poor household on general and necessary service in modern times.
I hope the agencies may be further called for assessment of tax base which questions the very purpose of physical and economic viability. I fear that such obnoxious ideas may get legislatures’ approval as they are easily convinced on technical and economic issues.
How can we expect a normal fiscal situation in such a backdrop ?
yeh india hai yahan kutch bhi ho sakta hai………….a 4 class passed can become neta and run while system who barely knows what is percentage………..