Central Government to open new regional account office in Dehradun

The central government is going to open first of its kind regional account office for retired defense personnel from the first week of April in Controller of Defense Accounts (CDA)'s office in Dehradun.

Indian Military Academy's financial advisor B K Singhal said setting up of regional account office will help ex army and defense personnel and their families to solve their pension-related problems fast. Singhal said these personnel will no longer have to run from pillar to post for their problems.

He said this office will also help clear payment of pending allowances of serving army and defense personnel. According to Singhal, new regional accounts office will be inaugurated by top CDA officers on April 1.

Uttarakhand government announces exciting budget

Uttarakhand government announced stamp duty exemption of 25 per cent to women in property deals valued up to Rs 30 lakh and reduced tax on fruit wine to 5 per cent in the budget for 2013-14 tabled in the Assembly today.

To encourage tourism, the state government also exempted 'Spa' activities from luxury tax and relaxed assessment period to one year from half yearly related to luxury tax for the hotel industry in the Rs 25,329.84-crore budget.
 
Announcing tax concessions, Uttarakhand state Finance Minister Indira Hridayesh said colours of Holi and Pichkaris will be exempted from VAT whereas stamp duty exemption of 25 per cent will be given to women in property matters up to Rs 30 lakh.

To give a boost to fruit growers, VAT on fruit wine will be reduced from 32.5 per cent to 5 per cent, she said.

Laying the budget in the House amid a ruckus created by BJP members over their demand for a CBI probe into SIDCUL land deals, Hridayesh said the total expenditure for 2013-14 in Uttarakhand is estimated to be Rs 25,329.84 crore, showing an increase of 15.49 per cent over last year.

However, it is a deficit budget as total receipts in 2013-14 are estimated to be Rs 24,940.32 crore.

Non-plan expenditure this fiscal is estimated to be Rs 16,619.46 crore while the plan expenditure is estimated to be Rs 8,710.38 crore, showing a rise of 23.57 per cent.

Revenue surplus budget of Rs 901.52 crore has been estimated which is in conformity of FRBM Act targets, Hridayesh said, adding this means total revenue expenditure of the state government is estimated to be less than the estimated revenue receipts.

Fiscal deficit has been estimated to the tune of Rs 3,536.74 crore which is 2.292 per cent of the GSDP which she said is well within the FRBM target of 3 per cent.

A gender budget worth Rs 3,262 crore with special focus on women centric schemes was also laid in the House.

The Mussorie-Dehradun Ropeway project starts by May 15

Work on the much-awaited Mussoorie-Dehradun ropeway project will begin by May 15.

Chief Secretary Alok Kumar Jain, while holding a meeting to review the progress of the project, directed officials to remove all hurdles at the earliest and begin work on it by May 15.

The work would begin in the first phase on the stretch from Hathipaon to Library and in the second phase, the rope way from Purkul to Hathipaon will be constructed.Simultaneously, development of basic amenities and terminal at Purkul village will go on.

Covering a distance of 11 km between the two major tourist destinations in the hill state, the ropeway will be built at a cost of nearly Rs 800 crore.

Happy BirthDay RIMC, Dehra Dun 91st anniversary!

Yet another prestigious school of Uttarakhand, though under the control of the ministry of defence, will become 90 years old. The Rashtriya Indian Military College (Royal Indian Military College prior to partition) will be celebrating its Founders’ Day on March 12-13, when it will become 91.

Victoria Cross winner, Lt Gen P S Bhagat and Maj Somnath Sharma who was awarded the country’s highest war award, the Param Vir Chakra are its former students, besides a number of others who have been decorated and have laid down their lives for the country, including the 14 Rimcollians (as they are known) who made the supreme sacrifice for the country in the 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pak wars.

The Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC), traces its origin to the Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College. Inaugurated on 13th March 1922 by his Royal Highness, Prince Edward VIII the Prince of Wales, it is set amidst 138 acres of lush green countryside adjacent to Garhi Village in Dehradun Cantonment. During his address to the first thirty-seven cadets he said, “It is the first few blows on the anvil of life that give the human, weapon, the set and temper that carry him through life’s battles”.

RIMC has a long history and rich traditions. Over the years it has produced many leaders of society, both military as well as civil. Five chiefs of Army staff and one chief of the Air staff in India; one Commander-in-chief of the Army and two chief of the Air staff in Pakistan; besides, many high civilian dignitaries like Governors, Ambassadors, Ministers and Captains of industry have passed through the RIMC’s hallowed portals.

The purpose of this institution was to provide Indian boys with suitable education and training to ensure a high pass-rate for the Indians being sent to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, as part of the Indianisation program of the officer cadre of the Indian Army. RIMC was not, in fact, a College, but a pre Sandhurst institution run along the lines of an English public school. The British believed that for becoming an army officer, if an education in Britain was impossible, a public school education in India was an absolute necessity.

Nestled in the foothills of the Shivalik ranges in the sylvan surroundings of the Doon Valley, the RIMC has a sprawling campus of 138 acres; an ideal setting green and serene for developing young minds. It houses a mint township, a mini India with 250 boys selected from every state strictly on merit by a written examination, interview and a medical test. The campus has quite a few heritage buildings in Tudor Style, some nearly a hundred years old.

Those who have come to the school include the Prince of Wales, Queen Mary, Lord Mountbatten, Gen Wavell, Dr Rajendra Prasad, Pt Jawahar Lal Nehru, Shah of Iran, King of Nepal, Dr V V Giri, Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma and A P J Abdul Kalam.

Attention DehraDun Police - If you misbehave with public, you will land in jungle!

Cracking the whip on errant policemen, Dehardun Police have decided to adopt a novel method of punishment in which they will spend a day in forest all alone with the bare minimum for survival. Police personnel, found guilty of dereliction of duty or misbehaving with public will spend a day in the forest all alone with the bare minimum for survival.

The move follows frequent complaints about policemen misbehaving with people who approach them for help.

Personnel attached to the police lines as a punishment for dereliction of duty or misbehaving with the public will be given 15 days' time to mend their ways, failing which they will be sent to the jungle to spend 24 hours in solitude, with bare necessities to support them, like uncooked rice, pulses and two water bottles.

Three new municipal corporations formed in Uttarakhand

Three new municipal corporations were born in Uttarakhand including Rudrapur, Kashipur and Roorkee taking the total number of municipal corporations in the state to six.

The respective district magistrates have been appointed administrators of the newly constituted corporations.

With this move, the number of municipal corporations in the state has risen to six including Dehradun, Haridwar and Haldwani.