22.04.21

Punjab collects 1.48k crore in GST in April, highest for state

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Punjab has earned a revenue of Rs 1,481.83 crore fromGSTduring April 2021. This is the states highest revenue from GST for any particular month since the introduction of GST during July 2017.

An official of the commissioners office said the earlier highest monthly revenue from GST was Rs 1,216 crore, earned during July 2019. The revenue from GST during April 2020 was Rs 156 crore due to relief provided to taxpayers in furnishing returns for February, March and April 2020 on account of Covid-19 and the country undergoing a lockdown after March 23, 2020.

n April 2019, Punjab recorded a Growth of 36%, with sectors like telecom, iron and steel, electronic goods, cement,petroleum productswithin GST making important contributions to the revenue earned for the particular month.

In April 2021, taxpayers of Punjab paid GST in cash to the tune of Rs 1,924.1 crore, which is another historic high. The previous highest amount was Rs 1,396 crore, collected in November 2020.

In addition to GST,Punjab collected tax revenuefromVATandCSTregime withmajor contributors being alcoholand five petroleum products which are outside GST. For April 2021, VAT and CST collection stood at Rs 701.13 crore, whereas it was Rs 430.82 crore for the same month in 2019. The collections fromPunjab state development tax(PSDT) have been stable as in April 2021.

Himachal Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Wednesday directed that all the ongoing tourism projects should be completed in stipulated time period and special focus must be laid on those projects which are nearing completion.

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The Chief Minister was presiding over a meeting of Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Board here,

He directed the officers for expediting the work on all the major ropeways viz Dharamshala-Mcleodgang, Palchan-Rohtang, Aadi Himani-Chamunda, Sri Anandpur Sahib-Shri Nainadevi etc.

He also directed the officers to effectively pursue FCA cases so that work on various tourism projects could be taken up soon.

While reviewing various projects, Thakur said that work must also be expedited on north and south portal alongside Atal Tunnel Rohtang, as the tunnel has emerged as the major tourist attraction.

Apart from this, Convention Centre at Kyarighat is coming up at a cost of Rs 29.90 crore and would be completed by September this year. Art and Craft village is being developed on 44 bigha land near Kandaghat village for which FCA approval is underway. This would prove an attractive destination for the tourists as both these projects are on the major national highway between Kalka-Shimla.

Water Sports and Adventure Institute (WSAI) has been installed by way of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) at Tehri Dam in Uttarakhand.

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The institute was once inaugurated on Friday through Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat and Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju. ITBPs Mountaineering and Skiing Institute at Auli will independently run this institution, which will impart coaching in aero, water and land-related sports and journey activities.

Training in kayaking, rowing, canoeing, water skiing, para-gliding, para-sailing, scuba diving, paddle boating, pace boating, kite surfing, jet skiing, etc, will additionally be provided at this institute. Apart from this, water rescue and life-saving publications will be carried out here. It has been centered to train at least 200 early life in water sports activities at this group each year.

ITBP was founded on 24 October 1962. The headquarters of ITBP is in New Delhi, India. The Director-General of ITBP is S S Deswal.

UP seeks railways help to transport oxygen from Jharkhand, Odisha

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Amid reports that Maharashtra is set to receive liquid medicaloxygen(LMO) through newly-launched Oxygen Express, a roll-on roll-off service with road tankers placed on flat military wagons, the Uttar Pradesh government has also sought help from therailwaysto bring oxygen fromJharkhandand Odisha.

According to RAILWAY officials, three stations Lucknow, Faizabad and Varanasi have been chosen where LMO tankers will be alighted. Railway authorities confirmed that 400 empty oxygen cylinders would be moved from Kandla (Gujarat) to Varanasi in new modified goods (NMG) wagons.

Jharkhand CM seeks help from military docs, infra to battle Covid surge

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Chief ministerHemantSoren wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting him to assign doctors and paramedics, who are working in the military and central paramilitary forces deployed inJharkhand, for Covid management in the state.

A large number of central paramilitary forces like CRPF and SSB have been deployed in Jharkhand to tackle extremism and several doctors and paramedics work in these forces. There are two military hospitals in Ranchi and Ramgarh.

Bihar: Rs 216 crore incentive for 3 firms gets cabinet nod

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The state cabinet on Wednesday gave clearance to the payment of financial incentives to three companies on their combined private capital worth Rs 216.90 crore in three separate units for ethanol production, Food Processing, and a rice mill.

Messers Magadh Sugar and Energy Limited (a unit of Bharat Sugar Mills) will get a financial incentive on investment of Rs 133.25 crore for establishing an ethanol plant with a production capacity of 75 kilolitres per day at Bucheya in the Sidhwalia block of Gopalganj district. The Plants capacity expansion potential is to the tune of 100 kilolitres per day.

The cabinet approved the SC\ST welfare department’s proposal for the payment of Rs 11.43 crore in 2021-22 fiscal for a 720-bed residential school at Pirpainti in Bhagalpur for boys and girls. The school proposed in 2017-18 was under construction for Rs 34.83 crore, which has been revised to Rs 46.24 crore.

Similarly, Rs 16.55 crore will be paid for the additional expenditure in 2021-22 on the construction of 720-bed state Ambedkar residential school for boys at Jhapaha in Muzaffarpur district.

Chhattisgarh’s legal body provides ‘Rahat’ to 308 women victims

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ChhattisgarhState Legal Services Authority (CGSLSA) has provided relief to victims in over 308 cases ofcrimeagainst Women as a part of its campaign Rahat in the last two months.

Under this, all the District Legal Services Authorities (DLSAs) of Chhattisgarh state are constantly making efforts to dispose of cases as a part of this campaign to provide immediate relief and compensation to the women victims of various criminal incidents and the amount of compensation is being provided to them.

In a notable success, in the month of January and February, action has been taken on a total of 308 applications including 106 in January and 202 in February, received by DLSAs across the state. An award of Rs 3.20 crore has been passed in the same. Maximum 47 cases were disposed of by District Legal Services Authority Bastar.

Gujarat Technological University starts facility to verify authenticity of remdesivir

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Gujarat Technological University(GTU) has developed a method to test if aremdesivir injectiondose is real or fake.

Two pharmacy students, Malay Pandya and Nisarg Patel, have under the supervision of Dr Kashyap Thummar developed this method and members of the general public can send samples for verification.

Police have busted several units making fake remdesivir across the country, including in Gujarat, in the second wave of Covid-19. In one of the cases in Gujarat, an accused made the counterfeit anti-viral drug using a compound of glucose and salt. Last week, the local crime branch of Morbi busted a racket to sell fake remdesivir injections and detained six persons from Morbi, Ahmedabad, and Surat.

Due to the surge in Covid-19 cases in the country, there has been a huge demand for remdesivir. Over the past few weeks, several cases of hoarding and black Marketing of remdesivir have also been reported.

The Rajasthan government approved a proposal to provide Rs. 3 crore each from the MLA Local Area Development (LAD) Fund to help people aged 18 to 44 get vaccinated against Covid-19.

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The fund for each legislator has been raised from Rs. 2.25 crore to Rs. 5 crore per year to cover expenses.

This is the state version of the central government scheme – Member of the Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLAD).

The aim of the scheme is to build based on local needs, create assets for public utilities, and eliminate regional imbalances in development.

The scheme is implemented in rural and urban areas in a state.

This scheme does not provide any funds to MLAs. It is transferred directly to the appropriate local authorities by the government.

Each state has its own set of rules for using MLA-LAD funds.