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Business Recorder
an hour ago
- Business Recorder
Tax exemption scandal hits excise dept
LAHORE: A damning audit report has revealed widespread irregularities in the tax exemption process for 5-marla houses, with serious discrepancies and favouritism allegedly practiced by the excise department. According to the 2022-23 audit report, a staggering Rs 136.5 million in tax exemptions were granted under dubious circumstances, with many ineligible individuals exploiting the 5-marla house exemption clause to evade property taxes. The audit report highlights glaring lapses, including cases where houses exceeded the 5-marla limit, while others lacked necessary documentation to qualify for exemptions. The report slams the department for granting exemptions without proper field verification and scrutiny, suggesting collusion and negligence among officials that resulted in massive losses to the treasury. The authorities have been directed to ensure immediate recovery of the exempted amount and take action against those responsible. The audit report, tabled in the Punjab Assembly, recommends ensuring transparency in the tax exemption process to prevent such scandals in the future. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Indian Express
an hour ago
- Indian Express
Bengal govt rolls out Rs 8,000-cr outreach programme to resolve local issues
TAPAN MONDOL, 31, seated on the front bench in a classroom of Bele-Durganagar High School, Joynagar, in South 24 Parganas, while attending a meeting as part of the TMC government's 'Amader Para, Amader Samadhan' (Our Neighbourhood, Our Solution) initiative, which rolled out from August 2 at the booth level, pointed out, 'We lack drinking water sources, forcing us to travel 2.5 km for water. So, we are proposing at least four tubewells for our Bele-Durganagar area.' During the meeting, a government official on site pointed out, 'One tube well costs around Rs 2 lakh, and we only have Rs 10 lakh fund. Installing four tubewells would exceed our budget.' However, backing Mondol's proposal, another villager, 67-year-old Prafulla Sardar, responded firmly, 'We will handle other issues such as streetlights and poor roads later. Drinking water comes first. So, prioritise the tubewells, then do whatever else you want to.' After the 'success' of its 'Duare Sarkar' and 'Parai Samadhan' campaigns, the West Bengal government on Saturday launched a Rs 8,000-crore outreach programme aimed at resolving local issues such as setting up street lamps, repairing roads and ensuring water supply, across districts, at the level of 'paras' or neighbourhoods. As part of the scheme, a locality (para) is constituted with three booths. On the opening day, each centre had three dedicated rooms where villagers could submit their local demands. These were compiled by a neutral person and handed over to the administration. The proposals would then be reviewed and decisions made on which projects to implement. The administration also arranged a help desk to take individual problems and applications. The move comes ahead of the Assembly elections, which is less than a year away. Organised for Booth 181 of the Joynagar Assembly constituency, the voters of the three booths – 181, 182 and 183 – participated in the project camp. Inaugurating the camp, Sumit Gupta, District Magistrate of South 24 Parganas, said, 'We have supplied the scheme names which will be allowed in this programme. People will put forth their demands in today's meeting. These will be scrutinised and selected projects will be implemented from November. On the first day, we organised 56 camps across the district.' 'In this scheme, one para will be constituted with three booths. But in remote places, we are making para with one or two booths also,' he added. However, a controversy erupted when it surfaced that Bele-Durganagar High School had exams scheduled on Saturday, and the camps began before the exams were completed. The school head master Arijit Sarkar claimed, 'We do not have problems and students also did not face any problems.' Meanwhile, the DM said, 'I do not have any idea that examinations are going on. It is not desirable. We are investigating.' Another camp was organised at Champahati Nilmani Kar Vidyalaya, under the Baruipur-East Assembly constituency, with participants belonging under booth number 24, 25 and 26. Panchayat Development Officer of Baruipur, Sanjib Roy Chowdhury said, 'Many people are coming and expecting that they can submit their problems like OBC certificate, Lakshmir Bhandar application, widow pension like government schemes. We also arranged for them a help desk so that they can submit their demands also.' A local Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader, Manna Naskar, said, 'It is a new programme. But it will be useful for development as ground level general voters are participating in this programme.' 'More than 300 persons participated in the programme. They have given many proposals, mostly roads, drinking water and streetlights,' said another TMC leader and local panchayat pradhan Asit Baran Mondol. Last month, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who announced the initiative, claimed, 'First such initiative in INDIA where people can voice their opinions and mutually decide the issues they need to get it resolved in their booth using Rs 10 lakh.' After its launch on Saturday, Banerjee posted on X, 'Amader Para Amader Samadhan' (APAS) is a unique flagship initiative aimed at institutionalizing participatory governance and re-imagining grassroots service delivery through people-engagement and empowerment. APAS camp is a platform where local people shall deliberate, identify and prioritize their local level infrastructure needs.' 'Rs 8,000+ crore is the outlay for APAS with Rs 10 lakh allocated per booth and 80,000+ polling booths being covered by 27,000+ camps. Today, on the first day of 'Amader Para Amader Samadhan' 632 camps are being held across the State. Duare Sarkar counters have also been set up in APAS Camps.I invite the people to visit their camps and participate in the discussions to make APAS a grand success. I also thank the concerned government officials and stakeholders…,' she added.
India Today
an hour ago
- India Today
Delhi woman, boyfriend arrested for husband's murder as police crack year-old case
Delhi Police have arrested a woman and her boyfriend for allegedly planning and carrying out the murder of her husband and disposing of his body in a drain in Haryana's Sonipat, an official said on arrested persons have been identified as 34-year-old Soniya, a resident of Alipur in Delhi, and her 28-year-old boyfriend Rohit from Sonipat. Another accused in the case, Vijay, is to police, the motive behind the murder was the ongoing relationship between Soniya and Rohit, along with the alleged abusive and criminal behaviour of the victim. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Harsh Indora said the victim, 42-year-old Pritam Prakash, had more than 10 criminal cases against him and had been declared a proclaimed offender by a Commissioner of Police (Crime) Harsh Indora said, "The victim, Pritam Prakash (42), was a known history-sheeter in Alipur. He had more than 10 cases registered against him, including those under the Arms Act, Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, and under various sections of the Indian Penal Code. He had also been declared a proclaimed offender by the court."On July 5, 2024, Pritam had gone to pick up Soniya from her sister's house in Gannaur, Sonipat. After an argument, Pritam left the house but later returned and pleaded with her, Soniya let him stay in the house. That day, Soniya allegedly offered Rs 50,000 to Vijay, her sister's brother-in-law, to kill that night, while Soniya was sleeping on the terrace, Vijay allegedly killed Pritam and disposed of his body in a drain near Agwanpur. Police said Vijay recorded a video of the body and sent it to Soniya via social media, but the video was later July 20, Soniya filed a missing person complaint at Alipur Police Station, claiming her husband had gone out and never case initially did not show any signs of foul play, but investigators grew suspicious after noticing no financial or digital activity from Pritam for later tracked a mobile number linked to Pritam that had become active again after nearly a year. Surveillance led them to Rohit in questioning, Rohit at first misled the police but later admitted to the said Rohit confessed to being in a relationship with Soniya and said they had planned the murder together. He also said Soniya had allegedly paid Vijay to carry out the the same time, Haryana Police had recovered an unidentified male body from the area, but were unable to identify it. The case remained unsolved until Delhi Police linked the details nearly a year to police, Soniya later sold Pritam's auto-rickshaw for Rs 4.5 lakh and gave his mobile phone to Rohit. DNA samples collected during the Haryana post-mortem will now be used to confirm the identity of the said Soniya married Pritam when she was around 15 years old, against the wishes of their families. They later accepted the marriage, and the couple had three children, including a 16-year-old son and two daughters."The marriage was never reported to the police by the families, who later accepted the couple. They have three children from the wedlock, including a 16-year-old boy and two daughters," the DCP according to police, had four previous criminal cases, including charges of murder and possession of illegal arms. He got married in April 2025 but continued his relationship with Soniya. He was working as a private cab are continuing their search for Vijay, who remains missing.- EndsMust Watch
