DeMon effect: Tax collection dips -...
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16 & 17 * THE TIMES OF INDIA, NEW DELHI | TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2017 New Delhi: The final word is out on the impact of demoneti- sation on Delhi’s revenue ge- neration from VAT. While the total tax collections till Janua- ry stand at Rs 17,708 crore in the current fiscal as against Rs 16,668 crore for the same pe- riod in 2015-16, the assessment for the period between Decem- ber and January this year has revealed a dismal scenario. In December, the revenue collection for the first time wit- nessed a negative growth of al- most minus 4% over the same period in 2015 while in Janua- ry, there was only a marginal recovery with a dismal growth rate of 1.72% over January 2015. The average growth rate before demoneti- sation was announced in November was between 8% and 10%. The VAT department’s ho- pes now rest on the February collections which appear to be picking up. The revenue target for 2016- 17 from VAT has been pitched at Rs 22,000 crore. The govern- ment has just eight days of Fe- bruary and the month of March left to make up for the decline in growth rate. Also, the global decline in the const- ruction sector, iron and steel continues to hold sway and has adversely impacted VAT collections since last year. After a robust VAT collec- tion of Rs 2,023 core in Novem- ber 2016, which was 15.59% hig- her than the same period the previous year and more than the monthly average of 8% to 10% witnessed in 2016 over 2015, December recorded a ne- gative growth in VAT for the first time in the current fiscal. In December, VAT collections were Rs 1,687 crore, 4% less than Rs 1,757 crore earned last year. This was clearly a set- back for the state government. The increase in November had been attributed to more tax being paid between Octo- ber 21 and November 21. Since Diwali was on October 30, pre- Diwali sales had also got re- flected in the November tax cy- cle. Also, since most traders deposit VAT in the last days of the monthly cycle, tax was paid after demonetisation kicked in. The spike is also being attributed to the fact that traders paid tax after demonetisation by showing pre-dated sales. It was after this that the im- pact of demonetisation star- ted showing as a reduced cash flow meant a massive decline in cash-based transactions on which tax is levied. Also the re- duced cash flow impacted the manufacturing and trade sec- tors too as a lot of transactions there too were largely cash-ba- sed and declined. December reflected the adverse impact at its peak when a negative growth was recorded. Negative In Dec, Marginal Recovery In Jan, But Feb May Bring Good News DeMon effect: Tax collection dips Ambika.Pandit @timesgroup.com 1.8 lakh of 3.53 lakh dealers registered with VAT department have registered on GST platform between December 16 and 31, 2016 HOW NOTEBANDI AFFECTED VAT TRANSITION TO GST ➤ Deadline for registration was December 31, 2016 which has now been extended to March 15 ➤ Nearly 50,000 dealers could not register as PAN details did not match VAT registration details. They’ve been asked to correct the details and reapply ➤ VAT department will start pruning the list to remove bogus dealers and those whose registrations have been cancelled ➤ Those dealers who fail to register even by March 15 will no longer be eligible for any of the benefits ➤ Total tax collections stand at 17,708 crore in the current fiscal as against 16,668 for the same period in 2015-16. Average growth rate between April and October 2016 is between 8% and 10% ➤ After demonetisation on November 8, VAT collections go up by 15.59% over the corresponding period in 2015. Collection in November is 2,024 crore as against 1,751 cr in 2015 ➤ But surge in VAT collections attributed to October Diwali sales and VAT deposited by post demonetisation showing pre- dated sales ➤ In December, revenue collection sees negative growth of 3.99% for the first time with 1,687 cr. In December 2015, the figure was 1,757 crore ➤ There was some recovery in January 2017 with collection of 2,057 cr. This was 1.72% more than the corresponding period in 2015 when it was 2,022 cr ➤ February collection to reflect if demonetisation impact is over or not ➤ The revenue target for 2016-17 from VAT is 22,000 cr ➤ Global decline in construction sector, iron and steel continues to hold sway and has adversely impacted VAT collections New Delhi: About1.85 lakh de- alers out of the 3.53 lakh regis- tered with the VAT depart- ment have enrolled on the GST portal from December 16 till da- te. The Delhi government is now preparing to bring out an advertisement to announce ex- tension of the deadline for en- rolment till March 15. The ear- lier deadline was December 31. The state government is clear that those who do not re- gister by the extended deadline will not be considered for any of the tax payment related be- nefits given to dealers by the VAT department from thereon. During enrollment, the VAT department found that in around 50,000 cases dealers co- uld not complete their applica- tions as their PAN card details did not match the ones registe- red with them. “For instance, the PAN may have the compa- ny name written in abbrevia- tion and the VAT data has the full name. This difference ap- pears as a mismatch and the dealers have been asked to get this rectified,” said VAT com- missioner H Rajesh Prasad. The dealers who choose not to get enrolled on the GST por- tal will come under the scan- ner of the VAT department which plans to begin the exer- cise of pruning the list of regis- tered dealers for weeding out any possibility of bogus dea- lers or those whose registra- tion may have been cancelled. Before this process started on December 16, a workshop to help dealers in migrating to GST was held at the Delhi Se- cretariat. Deputy CM Manish Sisodia and senior VAT depart- ment officials were present. The GST portal seeks to em- power the dealers with a comp- lete online experience with no manual interface. From uploa- ding of bills and filing of re- turns to tax payment, the enti- re process will be online. Once GST comes into effect, VAT will cease to exist except in the case of liquor and five petrole- um products, including diesel and petrol. Luxury tax and en- tertainment tax will be merged under GST. The excise on liqu- or will continue, along with VAT, even after GST rollout. Govt extends deadline for registering on GST portal Ambika.Pandit @timesgroup.com New Delhi: The social welfa- re department was on Monday directed by deputy chief mini- ster Manish Sisodia to recons- tituted the governing council of Asha Kiran Complex for mentally challenged men, wo- men and children to revamp the overcrowded home. The council, to be led by no- ted psychiatrist and psychot- herapist Dr Achal Bhagat, will have 13 members. “The reconstitution of the governing council was also discussed earlier. There is an urgent need for revamp to en- sure holistic and integrated improvement of the institu- tions in the Asha Kiran comp- lex. We need to have experts in the field for making a mea- ningful change,” said the di- rective to the department. The members of the coun- cil include special secretary health and family welfare, special director social welfa- re, member secretary of State Mental Health Authority and IHBAS, head of department of neurology at GB Pant ho- spital, representative of Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights, representative of National Trust of India, de- puty commissioner (revenue) northwest district, chief engi- neer of PWD Zone M-3 and DCP (outer district). On Friday, TOI had repor- ted that Delhi government was exploring the possibility of bringing in experts and mental health specialists on board to run the Home, which is currently run by officers and staff of the social welfare department. Sisodia took cognizance of the TOI report which mentio- ned that a governing council of Asha Kiran was setup in 2011with an external expert as chairperson after orders of the high court. However, the social welfare secretary was made the chairperson of the committee. Sisodia has sought why the social welfare secretary was made the chairperson and al- so asked for the details of the governing council meetings held so far. Sisodia seeks formation of new Asha Kiran council TIMES NEWS NETWORK New Delhi: Almost six months after a major human trafficking racket was busted at GB Road, the Crime Branch has submitted a 4,000-page chargesheet against the king- pin couple, Saira Begum (45) and Aafaq Hussain (50), along with nine others. This is first time when Maharashtra Control of Or- ganised Crime Act (MCOCA) has been invoked against hu- man traffickers. The couple had an unchecked run since 1999 raking in around Rs 300 crore till the Crime Branch arrested them in August last year. The chargesheet details 18 properties of the accused persons worth Rs 246 crore. “More arrests are likely to follow as we are trying to identify others involved in the crime. We are also trying to trace more properties of the accused couple. Supple- mentary chargesheets will be filed soon,” said joint com- missioner (crime) Ravindra Yadav. The syndicate run by the couple is suspected to have trafficked more than 5,000 girls from Nepal and remote areas of West Bengal, Odis- ha, Karnataka, Assam, Andhra and other states, cops said in the chargesheet. They used to buy girls for Rs 50,000 and sell them for up to Rs 2 lakh. The younger girls commanded a higher price. Once brought to the kothas of GB Road, the girls were often confined to almi- rahs and tunnels and forced to entertain clients in small cubicles, police said. The others charged inclu- de Hussain’s driver Ramesh and “chief manager” Vasu. The five others arrested are Billi, Samshad, Shilpi, Mum- taz and Puja Thapa, who were the nayikas (handlers). “Saira Begum controlled the racket which was extre- mely organised and managed by the nayikas, paid mana- gers, their assistants and traffickers. The unchecked inter-state movement of girls is not possible without an active organised crime syndicate behind it,” the chargesheet said. Sources said the couple started operations from one kotha at GB Road and later built four others, besides other benami properties and shops. Begum has been arres- ted in seven cases since 1990 and Hussain in three. The wo- man was convicted for seven years in a 2001case, but retur- ned to the trade soon after. In the last 10 years, two chargesheets have been filed against the couple. In March 2016, the couple was charged in two FIRs registered under IPC sections of rape, trafficking, abduction and criminal cons- piracy, among others. Data from NGOs reveals that every year 60,000 Nepa- lese girls are brought into In- dia for prostitution. Chargesheet filed in GB Road trafficking case Rajshekhar.Jha @timesgroup.com IN NET: Aafaq Hussain and his wife Saira Begum were arrested with nine others in August 2015 IT’S PLASTIC AND NOT FANTASTIC Anindya Chattopadhyay GREEN CONTRADICTION: Countless dumped plastic bottles at Garden of Five Senses in Saidul Ajaib even as Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated two ‘smart dustbins’ at Palika Bazar as part of NDMC’s smart city project New Delhi: Two children were allegedly raped by their neighbours in K N Katju Marg area in Rohini on Mon- day. Police said that the accu- sed were teenagers. One of the accused was apprehen- ded from the area late at night and was sent for a medi- cal examination. The girls, aged five and ni- ne, told the police that they had gone to an open field to relieve themselves on Mon- day morning when the accu- sed juveniles caught them. One of them assaulted the nine-year-old child while the other caught hold of her sis- ter. She too was sexually abu- sed by the juvenile later. Fa- mily members said that the youths threatened the duo with dire consequences if they reported the matter to their parents. They children were sent for a medical examination and a search was launched to nab the accused teens. One of them was found hi- ding at a relative’s house ne- arby. He was caught and sent to a juvenile justice ho- me for counselling. A case of gangrape was registered based on the state- ments of the two girls. Police said that one of the juveniles claimed to be a relative of the survivors. Police said that the child’s father works as a labourer in the area while the juveniles are the sons of a fruit seller who stay nearby. 2 girls allege rape by juveniles TIMES NEWS NETWORK New Delhi: Delhi Police on Monday launched Sashakti, an initiative where girls would be trained in easy-to-learn-and- use self-defence techniques across the capital. Delhi Police aims to train over 1 lakh girls and women under the programme. The event, which was strea- med live for people across the ci- ty, witnessed the participation of over 1,500 girls from more than 50 schools and colleges, mostly from the west district. The crowd cheered as a helium aerostat balloon, with the slo- gan ‘Surakshit Dilli’ was relea- sed in the air. The girls also had officers answering queries about cybercrime and giving them tips on online safety. Most ques- tions were related to safety of content on Facebook and WhatsApp. More than 20,000 girls, from various schools and colleges, have already been trained as a part of the programme in 2016. “We aim to train over 1 lakh girls and have to make sure that girls don’t feel vulnerable when they are travelling alo- ne,” said joint commissioner of police (southwestern range) Dependra Pathak. “The programme aims at not just sensitising females about the lurking dangers, but to overcome them with the help of self-defence training. We ha- ve also been instructing male students about POCSO and gi- ving them training on how to help a woman, if she is in troub- le,” said Vijay Kumar, deputy commissioner of police (west). The event commenced with display of the defence techni- ques and ended with a street play, which depicted how youngsters should play safe and handle situations at times of emergency. “The programme was bro- ught forth after consistent ef- forts made by Anita Roy, DCP III (west), who managed all the tra- ining sessions. Having been a student of self-defence her- self, the officer was able to con- nect more with the students,” added Kumar. The target group, police sa- id, were girls living in clusters who cannot afford proper trai- ning to adopt self-defence skills. The ones, who were trained, were later felicitated. The pro- gramme was concluded by an award ceremony, with prizes gi- ven to those who won accolades at events organised throughout the Delhi Police week. Police teach girls to fight trouble Pankhuri.Yadav @timesgroup.com SELF-DEFENCE: Delhi Police aims to train over 1 lakh girls and women under the programme Vipin New Delhi: Two days after a youth was shot dead by two bikers near his house in so- uthwest Delhi’s Chhawla area, a CCTV foo- tage showing the incident has been recove- red. The footage shows the killers waylay- ing the victim, travelling on a scooter, and shooting him on his forehead. As the youth fell off the scooter, the kil- ler, wearing a helmet, shot the victim twice before fleeing. Police have launched a man- hunt to nab the shooter who has been iden- tified by the deceased’s friend. The footage showed two men on a mo- torbike overtaking Dinesh’s scooter as soon as they entered a colony road. The pillion ri- der on the motorbike, wearing a red shirt, ran towards Dinesh and shot him on his forehead. As Dinesh fell off the scooter, they shot two more rounds at his body before fleeing. A police officer said that the killer was a criminal from Jhajjar and was involved in four other murders, including one in 2014. Initial probe revealed that Dinesh had an argument with the killers during a cricket match where he had abused the accused’s family members. “We have questioned Di- nesh’s family and friends and will soon ma- ke a breakthrough,” the officer added. CCTV shows bikers shooting man TIMES NEWS NETWORK Gurgaon: A 28-year-old wo- man doctor attempted suicide by jumping in front of a run- ning train, moments after it entered the platform at Guru Dronacharya Metro station on Monday morning. The train, which had already slowed down and was about to stop, hit the woman, throwing her off the tracks. Nishat, a healthcare pro- fessional who works at an in- surance firm located on Mat- hura road in Delhi, has been admitted to a nearby private hospital, where doctors ter- med her condition to be serio- us. Sources said the woman sustained fractures in her right hand and a leg. The incident, which took place on the Delhi Metro’s Yel- low line, disrupted services for around 10 minutes. Preliminary probe revea- led that Nishat was standing on platform No. 2 apparently to board a train towards Ja- hangirpuri around 7.45am. As the train was entering the plat- form, she jumped on the tracks. But, miraculously, she did not come under the wheels. The incident was captured in the CCTV cameras installed at the station. Police said the woman’s family members we- re also clueless as to why she took the extreme step. Woman doctor jumps in front of Metro, critical The incident disrupted Metro services for 10 minutes Sanjay Yadav & Gayas Eapen TNN New Delhi: The Delhi go- vernment, in a first-of-its-kind drive, has cleared 72,000 cases of refund to dealers registered with the value-added tax (VAT) department in a span of around six months. These ca- ses involve clearance of dues amounting to Rs 850 crore, which also includes the inter- est amount accrued over the years due to delays in refund. In many cases, the delay in redressing the refund cases is up to 17 years. This clean-up is part of the process to prune and prepare the system for the transition to the GST regime. Another 68,000-odd cases are still to be dealt with and the VAT department is trying to expedite the process before switching to the GST regime. VAT commissioner H Rajesh Prasad told TOI, “There were a total of 1.4 lakh cases, which were pending for refund with the VAT department with the pendency dating back to 2005. The refund process has to be completed by March, accor- ding to the deadline set for shifting to the GST regime. The department says it is try- ing hard to deal with the high backlog and deliver on time.” Prasad explained that VAT officers across the city were asked to take out all the pending cases and prepare lists for quick disposal. Sour- ces said that over the years, de- aling with refund cases was seen as the last priority, hence the cases kept piling up. 72k refund cases cleared in 6 months Ambika.Pandit @timesgroup.com
Transcript of DeMon effect: Tax collection dips -...
16 & 17
* THE TIMES OF INDIA, NEW DELHI | TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2017
New Delhi: The final word isout on the impact of demoneti-sation on Delhi’s revenue ge-neration from VAT. While thetotal tax collections till Janua-ry stand at Rs 17,708 crore inthe current fiscal as against Rs16,668 crore for the same pe-riod in 2015-16, the assessmentfor the period between Decem-ber and January this year hasrevealed a dismal scenario.
In December, the revenuecollection for the first time wit-nessed a negative growth of al-most minus 4% over the sameperiod in 2015 while in Janua-ry, there was only a marginalrecovery with a dismal growthrate of 1.72% over January 2015. The averagegrowth rate before demoneti-sation was announced in November was between 8%and 10%.
The VAT department’s ho-pes now rest on the Februarycollections which appear to be picking up.
The revenue target for 2016-17 from VAT has been pitchedat Rs 22,000 crore. The govern-ment has just eight days of Fe-bruary and the month of
March left to make up for thedecline in growth rate. Also,the global decline in the const-ruction sector, iron and steelcontinues to hold sway and
has adversely impacted VATcollections since last year.
After a robust VAT collec-tion of Rs 2,023 core in Novem-ber 2016, which was 15.59% hig-
her than the same period theprevious year and more thanthe monthly average of 8% to10% witnessed in 2016 over2015, December recorded a ne-
gative growth in VAT for thefirst time in the current fiscal.In December, VAT collectionswere Rs 1,687 crore, 4% lessthan Rs 1,757 crore earned lastyear. This was clearly a set-back for the state government.
The increase in Novemberhad been attributed to moretax being paid between Octo-ber 21 and November 21. SinceDiwali was on October 30, pre-Diwali sales had also got re-flected in the November tax cy-cle. Also, since most tradersdeposit VAT in the last days of the monthly cycle, tax waspaid after demonetisationkicked in. The spike is also being attributed to the factthat traders paid tax after demonetisation by showingpre-dated sales.
It was after this that the im-pact of demonetisation star-ted showing as a reduced cashflow meant a massive declinein cash-based transactions onwhich tax is levied. Also the re-duced cash flow impacted themanufacturing and trade sec-tors too as a lot of transactionsthere too were largely cash-ba-sed and declined. Decemberreflected the adverse impact atits peak when a negativegrowth was recorded.
Negative In Dec, Marginal Recovery In Jan, But Feb May Bring Good News
DeMon effect: Tax collection dipsAmbika.Pandit
@timesgroup.com
1.8 lakh of 3.53 lakh dealers registered with VAT department
have registered on GST platform between December 16 and 31, 2016
HOW NOTEBANDI AFFECTED VATTRANSITION TO GST
➤ Deadline for registration was December 31, 2016 which has now been extended to March 15
➤ Nearly 50,000 dealers could not register as PAN details did not match VAT registration details. They’ve been asked to correct the details and reapply
➤ VAT department will start pruning the list to remove bogus dealers and those whose registrations have been cancelled
➤ Those dealers who fail to register even by March 15 will no longer be eligible for any of the benefits
➤ Total tax collectionsstand at 17,708 crore in the current fiscal as against 16,668 for the same period in 2015-16. Average growth rate between April and October 2016 is between 8% and 10%
➤ After demonetisation on November 8, VAT collections go up by 15.59% over the corresponding period in 2015. Collection in November is 2,024 crore as against 1,751
cr in 2015
➤ But surge in VAT collections attributed to October Diwali sales and VAT deposited by post demonetisation showing pre-dated sales
➤ In December, revenue collection sees negative growth of 3.99% for the first time with 1,687 cr. In December 2015, the figure was 1,757 crore
➤ There was some recovery in January 2017 with collection of 2,057 cr. This was 1.72% more than the corresponding period in 2015 when it was 2,022 cr
➤ February collection to reflect if demonetisation impact is over or not
➤ The revenue target for 2016-17 from VAT is 22,000 cr
➤ Global decline in construction sector, iron and steel continues to hold sway and has adversely impacted VAT collections
New Delhi: About1.85 lakh de-alers out of the 3.53 lakh regis-tered with the VAT depart-ment have enrolled on the GSTportal from December 16 till da-te. The Delhi government isnow preparing to bring out anadvertisement to announce ex-tension of the deadline for en-rolment till March 15. The ear-lier deadline was December 31.
The state government isclear that those who do not re-gister by the extended deadlinewill not be considered for anyof the tax payment related be-nefits given to dealers by theVAT department from thereon.
During enrollment, theVAT department found that in
around 50,000 cases dealers co-uld not complete their applica-tions as their PAN card detailsdid not match the ones registe-red with them. “For instance,the PAN may have the compa-ny name written in abbrevia-tion and the VAT data has thefull name. This difference ap-pears as a mismatch and thedealers have been asked to getthis rectified,” said VAT com-missioner H Rajesh Prasad.
The dealers who choose notto get enrolled on the GST por-tal will come under the scan-ner of the VAT departmentwhich plans to begin the exer-cise of pruning the list of regis-tered dealers for weeding outany possibility of bogus dea-lers or those whose registra-tion may have been cancelled.
Before this process startedon December 16, a workshop tohelp dealers in migrating toGST was held at the Delhi Se-cretariat. Deputy CM ManishSisodia and senior VAT depart-ment officials were present.
The GST portal seeks to em-power the dealers with a comp-lete online experience with nomanual interface. From uploa-ding of bills and filing of re-turns to tax payment, the enti-re process will be online. OnceGST comes into effect, VATwill cease to exist except in thecase of liquor and five petrole-um products, including dieseland petrol. Luxury tax and en-tertainment tax will be mergedunder GST. The excise on liqu-or will continue, along withVAT, even after GST rollout.
Govt extends deadline forregistering on GST portal
New Delhi: The social welfa-re department was on Mondaydirected by deputy chief mini-ster Manish Sisodia to recons-tituted the governing councilof Asha Kiran Complex formentally challenged men, wo-men and children to revampthe overcrowded home.
The council, to be led by no-ted psychiatrist and psychot-herapist Dr Achal Bhagat,will have 13 members.
“The reconstitution of thegoverning council was alsodiscussed earlier. There is anurgent need for revamp to en-sure holistic and integratedimprovement of the institu-tions in the Asha Kiran comp-lex. We need to have experts inthe field for making a mea-ningful change,” said the di-rective to the department.
The members of the coun-cil include special secretaryhealth and family welfare,special director social welfa-re, member secretary of StateMental Health Authority andIHBAS, head of departmentof neurology at GB Pant ho-spital, representative of DelhiCommission for Protection ofChild Rights, representativeof National Trust of India, de-puty commissioner (revenue)northwest district, chief engi-neer of PWD Zone M-3 andDCP (outer district).
On Friday, TOI had repor-ted that Delhi governmentwas exploring the possibilityof bringing in experts andmental health specialists onboard to run the Home, whichis currently run by officersand staff of the social welfaredepartment.
Sisodia took cognizance ofthe TOI report which mentio-ned that a governing councilof Asha Kiran was setup in2011with an external expert aschairperson after orders ofthe high court. However, thesocial welfare secretary wasmade the chairperson of thecommittee.
Sisodia has sought why thesocial welfare secretary wasmade the chairperson and al-so asked for the details of thegoverning council meetingsheld so far.
Sisodia seeksformation of
new AshaKiran council
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: Almost sixmonths after a major humantrafficking racket was bustedat GB Road, the Crime Branchhas submitted a 4,000-pagechargesheet against the king-pin couple, Saira Begum (45)and Aafaq Hussain (50), alongwith nine others.
This is first time whenMaharashtra Control of Or-ganised Crime Act (MCOCA)has been invoked against hu-man traffickers. The couplehad an unchecked run since1999 raking in around Rs 300crore till the Crime Brancharrested them in August last year.
The chargesheet details18 properties of the accusedpersons worth Rs 246 crore.“More arrests are likely tofollow as we are trying toidentify others involved inthe crime. We are also tryingto trace more properties ofthe accused couple. Supple-mentary chargesheets willbe filed soon,” said joint com-missioner (crime) RavindraYadav.
The syndicate run by thecouple is suspected to havetrafficked more than 5,000girls from Nepal and remoteareas of West Bengal, Odis-ha, Karnataka, Assam,Andhra and other states,cops said in the chargesheet.
They used to buy girls forRs 50,000 and sell them for upto Rs 2 lakh. The youngergirls commanded a higherprice. Once brought to thekothas of GB Road, the girlswere often confined to almi-rahs and tunnels and forcedto entertain clients in smallcubicles, police said.
The others charged inclu-de Hussain’s driver Rameshand “chief manager” Vasu.The five others arrested areBilli, Samshad, Shilpi, Mum-taz and Puja Thapa, who werethe nayikas (handlers).
“Saira Begum controlled
the racket which was extre-mely organised and managedby the nayikas, paid mana-gers, their assistants and traffickers. The uncheckedinter-state movement of girlsis not possible without an active organised crime syndicate behind it,” thechargesheet said.
Sources said the couplestarted operations from onekotha at GB Road and laterbuilt four others, besidesother benami properties andshops. Begum has been arres-ted in seven cases since 1990and Hussain in three. The wo-man was convicted for sevenyears in a 2001case, but retur-ned to the trade soon after.
In the last 10 years, twochargesheets have been filedagainst the couple. In March2016, the couple was charged intwo FIRs registered under IPCsections of rape, trafficking,abduction and criminal cons-piracy, among others.
Data from NGOs revealsthat every year 60,000 Nepa-lese girls are brought into In-dia for prostitution.
Chargesheetfiled in GB Roadtrafficking case
IN NET: Aafaq Hussain and hiswife Saira Begum were arrestedwith nine others in August 2015
IT’S PLASTIC AND NOT FANTASTICAnindya Chattopadhyay
GREEN CONTRADICTION: Countless dumped plastic bottles at Garden of Five Senses in Saidul Ajaib even as Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated two ‘smart dustbins’ at Palika Bazar as part of NDMC’ssmart city project
New Delhi: Two childrenwere allegedly raped by theirneighbours in K N KatjuMarg area in Rohini on Mon-day. Police said that the accu-sed were teenagers. One ofthe accused was apprehen-ded from the area late atnight and was sent for a medi-cal examination.
The girls, aged five and ni-ne, told the police that theyhad gone to an open field torelieve themselves on Mon-day morning when the accu-sed juveniles caught them.
One of them assaulted thenine-year-old child while theother caught hold of her sis-ter. She too was sexually abu-sed by the juvenile later. Fa-mily members said that the
youths threatened the duowith dire consequences ifthey reported the matter totheir parents.
They children were sentfor a medical examinationand a search was launched tonab the accused teens.
One of them was found hi-ding at a relative’s house ne-arby. He was caught and sent to a juvenile justice ho-me for counselling.
A case of gangrape wasregistered based on the state-ments of the two girls. Policesaid that one of the juvenilesclaimed to be a relative of the survivors.
Police said that the child’sfather works as a labourer inthe area while the juvenilesare the sons of a fruit sellerwho stay nearby.
2 girls allege rapeby juveniles
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: Delhi Police onMonday launched Sashakti, aninitiative where girls would betrained in easy-to-learn-and-use self-defence techniquesacross the capital. Delhi Policeaims to train over 1 lakh girls and women under the programme.
The event, which was strea-med live for people across the ci-ty, witnessed the participationof over 1,500 girls from morethan 50 schools and colleges,mostly from the west district.The crowd cheered as a heliumaerostat balloon, with the slo-gan ‘Surakshit Dilli’ was relea-sed in the air.
The girls also had officersanswering queries about cybercrime and giving themtips on online safety. Most ques-tions were related to safety of content on Facebook andWhatsApp.
More than 20,000 girls, fromvarious schools and colleges,have already been trained as a
part of the programme in 2016.“We aim to train over 1 lakhgirls and have to make sure that girls don’t feel vulnerablewhen they are travelling alo-ne,” said joint commissioner ofpolice (southwestern range)
Dependra Pathak.“The programme aims at
not just sensitising femalesabout the lurking dangers, butto overcome them with the helpof self-defence training. We ha-ve also been instructing male
students about POCSO and gi-ving them training on how tohelp a woman, if she is in troub-le,” said Vijay Kumar, deputycommissioner of police (west).
The event commenced withdisplay of the defence techni-ques and ended with a streetplay, which depicted how youngsters should play safeand handle situations at timesof emergency.
“The programme was bro-ught forth after consistent ef-forts made by Anita Roy, DCP III(west), who managed all the tra-ining sessions. Having been a student of self-defence her-self, the officer was able to con-nect more with the students,”added Kumar.
The target group, police sa-id, were girls living in clusterswho cannot afford proper trai-ning to adopt self-defence skills.The ones, who were trained,were later felicitated. The pro-gramme was concluded by anaward ceremony, with prizes gi-ven to those who won accoladesat events organised throughoutthe Delhi Police week.
Police teach girls to fight troublePankhuri.Yadav
@timesgroup.com
SELF-DEFENCE: Delhi Police aims to train over 1 lakh girls and womenunder the programme
Vipin
New Delhi: Two days after a youth wasshot dead by two bikers near his house in so-uthwest Delhi’s Chhawla area, a CCTV foo-tage showing the incident has been recove-red. The footage shows the killers waylay-ing the victim, travelling on a scooter, andshooting him on his forehead.
As the youth fell off the scooter, the kil-ler, wearing a helmet, shot the victim twicebefore fleeing. Police have launched a man-hunt to nab the shooter who has been iden-tified by the deceased’s friend.
The footage showed two men on a mo-torbike overtaking Dinesh’s scooter as soonas they entered a colony road. The pillion ri-der on the motorbike, wearing a red shirt, ran towards Dinesh and shot him onhis forehead. As Dinesh fell off the scooter,they shot two more rounds at his body before fleeing.
Apolice officer said that the killer was acriminal from Jhajjar and was involved infour other murders, including one in 2014.Initial probe revealed that Dinesh had anargument with the killers during a cricketmatch where he had abused the accused’sfamily members. “We have questioned Di-nesh’s family and friends and will soon ma-ke a breakthrough,” the officer added.
CCTV shows bikersshooting man
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Gurgaon: A 28-year-old wo-man doctor attempted suicideby jumping in front of a run-ning train, moments after itentered the platform at GuruDronacharya Metro station onMonday morning. The train,which had already sloweddown and was about to stop, hitthe woman, throwing her offthe tracks.
Nishat, a healthcare pro-fessional who works at an in-surance firm located on Mat-hura road in Delhi, has beenadmitted to a nearby privatehospital, where doctors ter-med her condition to be serio-
us. Sources said the womansustained fractures in herright hand and a leg.
The incident, which tookplace on the Delhi Metro’s Yel-low line, disrupted services foraround 10 minutes.
Preliminary probe revea-led that Nishat was standingon platform No. 2 apparentlyto board a train towards Ja-hangirpuri around 7.45am. Asthe train was entering the plat-form, she jumped on thetracks. But, miraculously, shedid not come under the wheels.
The incident was capturedin the CCTV cameras installedat the station. Police said thewoman’s family members we-re also clueless as to why shetook the extreme step.
Womandoctor jumps
in front ofMetro, critical
The incident disrupted Metroservices for 10 minutes
Sanjay Yadav & Gayas Eapen TNN
New Delhi: The Delhi go-vernment, in a first-of-its-kinddrive, has cleared 72,000 casesof refund to dealers registeredwith the value-added tax(VAT) department in a span ofaround six months. These ca-ses involve clearance of duesamounting to Rs 850 crore,which also includes the inter-est amount accrued over theyears due to delays in refund.In many cases, the delay inredressing the refund cases isup to 17 years. This clean-up ispart of the process to pruneand prepare the system for thetransition to the GST regime.
Another 68,000-odd casesare still to be dealt with andthe VAT department is trying
to expedite the process beforeswitching to the GST regime.VAT commissioner H RajeshPrasad told TOI, “There werea total of 1.4 lakh cases, whichwere pending for refund withthe VAT department with thependency dating back to 2005.The refund process has to becompleted by March, accor-ding to the deadline set forshifting to the GST regime.The department says it is try-ing hard to deal with the highbacklog and deliver on time.”
Prasad explained thatVAT officers across the citywere asked to take out all thepending cases and preparelists for quick disposal. Sour-ces said that over the years, de-aling with refund cases wasseen as the last priority, hencethe cases kept piling up.
72k refund casescleared in 6 months
