Tax Exemption on (CPMF) Canteen

Tax Exemption on CPMF Canteen Sales

The Central Para-Military Forces (CPMF) have sought VAT exemption on canteen sales. Chairman, Welfare And Rehabilitation Board (WARB) has written to the Chief Ministers of all the States and to the Union Territories for seeking exemption of Value Added Tax (VAT) to Central Police Canteen (CPC).

Hon’ble Minister of State for Home Affairs and Home Secretary have also written to all the State Governments and Union Territory Administrations vide letter dated 30/09/2011 and 02/06/2008 for exemption of Value Added Tax (VAT) to Central Police Canteen (CPC). Till date, 12 States/UTs viz. Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Meghalaya, Haryana, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Tamilnadu, Orissa, Kerala & Chandigarh have agreed for exemption of VAT on sales of Central Police Canteens.

This was stated by Shri Jitendra Singh, Minister of State of Home Affairs in written reply in the Lok Sabha today.

IJ/PT/Tax exemption

ATTRITION AND SUICIDES IN CPMF

Central Paramilitary forces find it tough to battle attrition, suicides

In what should be a major cause of concern, the Central Paramilitary Forces are not only witnessing an alarming attrition rate — over 850 personnel are leaving the forces every month on an average so far this year — but also suicides by its personnel, with 10 cases being reported every month.

As many as 8,550 CPMF personnel opted for Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS), with maximum from the BSF (4,852), followed by the CRPF (2,128). With regard to suicides, CRPF tops the list among the six CPMF with 38 of its personnel committing it so far followed by the BSF (36).

Other forces where personnel took VRS are Assam Rifles (758), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) (329), ITBP (252) and CISF (231).

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Minister of State for Home Jitendra Singh, however, said, “Only few central armed police force (CAPF) personnel took voluntary retirement. Generally, the central armed police forces personnel have cited personal/domestic problems as reasons for seeking voluntary retirement.”

The Government has implemented measures like ensuring a transparent leave policy, revamping of grievances redressal machinery and increased risk, hardship and other allowances, among others, to deal with the situation, Singh sought to assert.

Other measures to check the growing attrition include yoga classes for better stress management, recreational and sports facilities, provision of STD telephone facilities, medical and canteen facilities, he pointed out.

The maximum number of ‘firing on colleagues’ (fratricide) cases — three — were also reported in CRPF comprising close to three lakh personnel, the Lok Sabha was further informed.

The CRPF was closely followed by Border Security Force (BSF) with 36 suicide cases and two cases of fratricidal killings, Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) with 11 suicides and two cases of firing on colleagues and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) with ten suicidal deaths and one instance of fratricidal murder.

The other forces like Assam Rifles recorded eight suicides and one case of fratricidal incident, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) had four suicidal cases and the National Security Guard (NSG) had two such incidents this year.

“The causative factors in most of the cases were found to be generally the personal and domestic problems like marital discord, personal enmity, mental illness and depression among others and were not related to the forces as such,” Singh told the Lok Sabha.

“The corrective steps being taken by the Government are regulating duty hours to ensure adequate rest and relief, grant of entitled leave to the needy personnel, provision of recreational facilities, providing opportunities for team sports and games, training in yoga and meditation, organising talks by doctors and other specialists, regular interaction with personnel by senior officers among others,” Singh said.

GURGAON VS NOIDA

PROPERTY MATTERS:

Gurgaon's zooming real estate prices underline the fact that it has arrived as a leading commercial and residential hub while Noida and Greater Noida continue to lag behind. Commercial space in Gurgaon today fetches a monthly rent of between Rs 120 and Rs 140 per square foot. In Noida, the same space is available for a paltry sum of Rs 35 per square foot.

GURGAON

The same story holds for residential space. Gurgaon's new sectors command a handsome price of Rs 4,000 per sq foot but in Noida, the price is between Rs 2,000 and Rs 2,500 per square foot. But Noida developers are building big for the future. A large number of high-quality commercial and residential projects are being developed on the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway.

A couple of upmarket residential projects are being constructed around 18-hole golf courses, which can rival any similar projects in Gurgaon. A residential project in Greater Noida by Jaypee Greens on 452 acres with an 18-hole golf course at the centre provides a world-class residential option to top corporate honchos. Gurgaon, on the other hand, has only the DLF golf course to boast of.

EAT & SHOP :

If you're the kind who needs a 'special' coffee place, eat out every other day or just unwind with a pitcher of freshly brewed wheat beer, then Gurgaon is just the place for you. Whatever else Noida may have on Gurgaon , its Haryana counterpart steals a march when it comes to entertainment and eating-out options. There are over 40 malls spread all over Gurgaon with cinema halls, restaurants and international brands. Compare that with Noida where all the action is centred around Atta Market or Sector 18.

If spending a weekend at the mall isn't your scene, then Gurgaon has plenty of fine-dining restaurants - standalone and in hotels - late-night dhabas, quiet coffee places, a superb bakery or even ahatas where you can take your booze, order some food and sit back while a Jimi Hendrix concert plays on the big screen. Innumerable microbreweries have sprouted in Gurgaon giving beer drinkers reason to cheer. Clubs in Gurgaon remain open till at least till 3am. Even liquor shops are licensed to stay open till 2am and some will even deliver at your doorstep. There is culture, too, with venues like Epicentre hosting some of the best theatre groups in India.

METRO MATTERS:

When it comes to Metro rail-based connectivity, Noida scores over Gurgaon. The authorities have collected money from end users and created a huge corpus of around Rs 9,000 crore for extending the existing lines up to Greater Noida. But, there is no similar mechanism available in Gurgaon.

SADAK, BIJLI, PAANI :

Gurgaon's swankiness is confined to indoors. The sewage main lines are missing in most localities, especially in the new Gurgaon sectors where sewage is dumped in vacant plots. The Haryana Urban Development Authority has adopted the Greater Noida model in developing sectors, with private companies constructing and maintaining the infrastructure. On the power front, both witness power outages of around 8 to 12 hours during summer. Water is where the east scores since it has more groundwater availability. Future plans for Gurgaon envisage a sufficient quantity of water from the NCR channel. Noida, on the other hand, has plans to provide 100% Ganga water by 2020.

PARK AND RIDE :

Cyber City is where the very centre of corporate razzle-dazzle in Gurgaon lies, though you wouldn't have guessed it if you go by the pockmarked and water-logged roads here. In Udyog Vihar, the region's industrial hub, with over 2,000 manufacturing units doing thousands of crores worth of business, there's no sign of a parking facility. Drive through the plushest of residential colonies, Sushant Lok, and marvel at the great heaps of garbage lying uncollected for months. Noida, on the other hand, follows a better approach to town management. The suburb has well laid-out sectors with wide roads, flyovers and under-passes and plenty of local shopping complexes in each sector. The Noida Authority recently announced the allocation of Rs 4,997.65 crore for development projects.

NOIDA BUILDINGS
HEALTHCARE:

When it comes to education, Gurgaon boasts of bigger names like Sriram and Heritage. But in terms of hospitals, they are about equal. Large facilities like Medanta, Fortis, Artemis and Paras are coming up in Gurgaon. Noida has its share of hospital chains like Fortis, Max Healthcare, Apollo, Metro and Kailash.

BRAND WARS :

Driving the Noida story is Mayawati, who has moved beyond her Behenji image, and is burning a lot of rubber to win the race. Team Hooda has the advantage of a pole position. Even if they seem a bit out of form now, maybe, a pit stop is all they need. Perception plays a huge role on track as well as off it. Till recently, Gurgaon was seen as a VIP city. Noida was still a middle-class suburb, notorious for crime.

The future looks great for Greater Noida, while nothing is new about New Gurgaon. Noida, supplied less than onethird the properties as Gurgaon till 2007, now supplies six times more properties than its competitor. It has better connectivity with three expressways and has successfully hosted the F1. But all is not well with Noida. More than 50,000 apartments were put at risk during the Noida Extension land dispute, which is yet to be resolved. If the realty bubble bursts, middle-class investors will be the biggest sufferers. The chequered flag is still out of sight. Which city would you bet on?