Bidi to cost 7.5 pc more in Haryana

Bidi will be costlier in Haryana by 7.5 per cent, with the state Cabinet today approving a proposal in this regard to discourage its usage in view of concerns expressed by some sections, including victims.
The Haryana Cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, approved a proposal for revising the rate of tax on Bidi from 5 per cent to 12.5 per cent.
"A representation for raising the rates of tax on tobacco products was received from 'Voice of Tobacco Victims' (an NGO). The revision of rate of tax on Bidi will also discourage the use of tobacco products," an official release said here.

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The Haryana Cabinet also made substantially dearer the issuance of permits by the transport department under various categories.
In view of the decision, the fee for issue or renewal or counter signature of permit for the light motor vehicles has been raised to Rs 10,000 for five years and Rs 2,500 for one year, an official release said.

In case of other motor vehicles, revised fee of Rs 25,000 would be charged for five years and Rs 6,000 for one year.
Till now, Rs 1,750 and Rs 2,625 were charged for light motor vehicles and other vehicles, respectively.

The fee for issue or renewal or counter signature of permit for the entire state for two/three wheeled motor vehicles would be Rs 2000 for five years and Rs 500 for one year.
The revised fee for making an application for grant or renewal or counter signature of permit will be Rs 100 for two or three wheeled vehicles and Rs.200 for other motor vehicles.
Existing fee for goods carriage is Rs 100, for taxi or auto rickshaw is Rs 20 and for private service vehicle is Rs.50.
According to the revised fee structure, it has been decided to abolish the fee charged at the time of transfer of permit in the name of legal heirs of the deceased permit holder, during its validity, as a permit is valid for five years and it is not appropriate to charge the fee for issue of permit at the time of transfer of permit.

The fee for the issue of temporary permit for one week or part thereof would be Rs 100 for two/three-wheeled motor vehicles, Rs 200 for light motor vehicles (Non-AC) and Rs 400 for other vehicles instead of earlier fee Rs 100 per week and Rs 75 for every additional week.
Similarly, Rs 500 would be charged as fee for allowing replacement of a vehicle on a permit instead of Rs 25 earlier.
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The Haryana Cabinet also decided to bring an Ordinance for amending Section 59A of the Haryana Value Added Tax Act 2003 to facilitate recovery of old arrears as also the taxes, interest, penalty and all other dues covering the period prior to April 1, 2015.

The amendment was necessitated as it was difficult to recover these dues despite the earnest efforts of the Excise and Taxation Department, an official release said.
The amendment would avoid legal hassles involved in recovering such taxes, interest, penalty etc which are difficult to compute and recover, it said.
In another decision, the Cabinet decided to constitute the Haryana Academy of Adventure Sports as a society under the Haryana Registration and Regulation of Societies Act, 2012.
While the Chief Minister will be the Patron-in-Chief of the Society, Sports and Youth Affairs Minister will be the President and Administrative Secretary, Sports and Youth Affairs will be the Vice-President of the Society.

The aims and objectives of the Society are to initiate, encourage, promote and develop adventure sports in Haryana along with creation of training facilities for adventure sports and to develop quality adventure sports infrastructure.
The Cabinet also approved the proposal of Housing Department for furnishing the state government guarantee for raising a loan of Rs 150 crore from Housing and Urban Development Corporation Ltd, New Delhi for construction of 6435 flats for BPL Category under the Weaker Sections Housing Scheme at various stations in the State.
The Housing Board will incur a total cost of Rs 288.56 crore for the construction of the flats, it was informed in the Cabinet meeting.