Power transfer to GTA nears end - Cabinet minister rank for gurung

Darjeeling, Nov. 26: A meeting between the elected members of the GTA Sabha and the Bengal home secretary here today appeared to have paved the way for the smooth transfer of 57 subjects to the autonomous body. The home secretary, Basudeb Banerjee, said after the meeting that the 57 subjects to be transferred to the GTA had been clubbed into 40 departments and notifications had already been issued to hand over 40 subjects to the autonomous body. He also said the GTA chief executive, Bimal Gurung, had been accorded a status equivalent to the rank of a cabinet minister. The state government had earlier given him a rank equivalent to that of a minister of state (independent charge). Except Gurung, all other 44 elected members of the GTA Sabha were present at today’s meeting.

Banerjee, who was in Darjeeling more in his capacity as the principal secretary of the hill affairs department than the home secretary, held the meeting at the GTA headquarters at Lal Khoti. “The meeting has been extremely fruitful and we had detailed discussions on the transfer of departments and powers and clarifications sought by the GTA members on various issues,” said Banerjee. “The 57 subjects mentioned in Section 26 of the GTA Act have been clubbed into 40 departments. Out of the 40 departments, notifications for the transfer of 27 departments have already been issued. We have asked the GTA to set up offices of three other departments, while the transfer of the remaining 10 departments will take place soon,” he added. The three departments whose offices have to be set up by the GTA are sports, statistic programme implementation and town and country planning. The three departments have offices only in Calcutta at present. Banerjee also clarified that the GTA would have its own chief medical officer of health. At present the CMOH supervises both the GTA area and Siliguri subdivision which is not under the GTA but falls within Darjeeling district. Lt. Col. (retd) Ramesh Allay, the deputy chief of the GTA, said: “All PWD bungalows in the GTA area will soon be handed over to the autonomous body.” Roshan Giri, an executive Sabha member of the GTA in charge of education, said Dow Hill and Victoria Boys’ School in Kurseong, which were the only state run ICSE schools in Bengal, should be handed over to the GTA. “The state government has agreed on this count,” said Giri. Other demands raised by Giri included powers to upgrade and grant recognition to schools, opening of a regional office of the West Bengal Council of Higher Education and filling up of vacant posts of school teachers without the concurrence of the state government. He also demanded that the Centre hand over the control of reserved forests to the GTA. “It was agreed that the state will approach the Centre for creating a Zilla Sainik Board for the GTA and hand over of Sainik Guest House at Bagdogra in Siliguri subdivision to the GTA,” said Allay. Later, the home secretary briefed Gurung on the meet.

Read More

2 hydel units by Dec

Takdah, Nov. 26: The NHPC Limited said today that two units of the Teesta Low Dam Project-III would start generating power by December 31. The units would yield 64MW. It is the first of the two projects on the Teesta to become operational in the district. S.R. Roy, the executive director of NHPC, said: “The project will be commissioned by December 31. We will make two of the units at TLDP-III operational and the remaining two will be made functional by January end. The two units (to be operational in December) will generate 64MW (together). When all the four units become operational, TLDP-III will be able to generate 132MW.” There are five hydel projects on the Teesta out of which three are in Sikkim and two, TLDP-III and IV, are in Darjeeling. Two of the three projects in Sikkim, TLDP-V in Singtam (510MW) and TLDP-II in Rangit (62MW) have already been commissioned. In Darjeeling, TLDP-III is in Rambi, 70km from Darjeeling, and TLDP-IV is in Kalijhora, 75km from Darjeeling. “We are looking at commissioning the 160MW TLDP-IV by September 2013,” said Roy.

Most of the electricity generated by the projects is likely to be drawn up by the state. “A memorandum of agreement had been signed between the NHPC and the Bengal government (in 2003) and the state government had expressed willingness to buy all the electricity generated from these two projects. It is up to the Union power minister to decide whether the entire electricity will be given to Bengal or shared with other states,” Roy said. According to NHPC reports, TLDP-III was supposed to be completed by 2008 while TLDP-IV was to be commissioned a year later. When asked about the delay, Roy said: “We faced difficulties as there was lot of flooding at the sites in 2007 and 2009.” According to NHPC’s 2002 estimates, the Rambi project was supposed to cost Rs 768.92 crore and TLDP-IV was a Rs 1,061.38 crore project.

Read More

Settlers refuse to pay tax - 400 business families in Sikkim demand exemption

Gangtok, Nov. 26: Around 400 business families in the state have turned down a request by the income tax department to file their returns and have demanded the same tax exemption which applies to people holding Sikkim subject certificates. The Chogyal dynasty had issued the Sikkim subject certificates to the people living in Sikkim in 1961 under the Sikkim Subject Regulation Act of 1961. The 400 business families, also known as “old settlers” had come to the state before 1975, the year Sikkim merged with India, but don’t possess Sikkim subject certificates. They allege discrimination and demand a tax exemption similar to the one enjoyed by the certificate holders.

“The new income tax commissioner in Siliguri, Subrato Sarkar, had convened a meeting with the old settlers in Gangtok last week. Alleging discrimination, they have refused to file their income tax returns,” said the general secretary of the Sikkim Chamber of Commerce, Kailash Agarwal. Sikkim was a part of the Chogyal Dynasty and became a part of India on April 26, 1975. The central government had exempted Sikkim subject holders from paying income tax in 2008 after the amendment bill was passed in the Finance Act by the Parliament based on the state government’s request . “We have been raising the matter with the central government on the income tax evasion to the old settlers. But so far, there have been no response. We will not file the IT returns,” said Agarwal. “There are 400 families which have come to Sikkim before 1975. The list was prepared on the basis of government documents such as electricity bill, driving licence and trade licences” he added. “I have filed a petition with the Rajya Sabha Committee in 2008 and the hearing on the matter is still pending” said Prem Goyal, the chief co-ordinator of Nagrik Sangarsh Samity. “We are only the implementing agency and would comply with the income tax rules. We will again serve notices on those who are yet to file their returns” said an official source. The Sikkim Chamber of Commerce has also requested the income tax department to conduct sensitisation workshops for those people who need to file their returns.

Read More