|
News and Events in the last few months:
The hearing of PIL on the issue of
taxpayer grievances in Income Tax Department came up for hearing
today on 26th Feb. Again, the Department sought an adjournment. The
next date of hearing has been fixed as 28th March. Meanwhile, it has
been learnt that the Department is solving all the grievances at war
footing.
|
Those industries in
Delhi, which are operating in non-conforming areas, are being sealed
for being relocated outside Delhi under the orders of Hon'ble
Supreme Court. These industries were operating in non-conforming
areas in violation of Delhi Development Act. Hence, they should be
relocated. But, they were working on the basis of license issued by
MCD, and various other permissions granted by other government
authorities like Delhi Vidyut Board, Delhi Jal Board etc. Since,
working in a non-conforming area is a crime, the basic question is,
why were the licenses and permissions granted in the first place and
why were these industries allowed to come up at all? This was all
done by taking bribes. So, if these industries are being relocated,
it is very important that all the officials who granted these
illegal licenses and permissions should also be booked. Parivartan
filed a PIL in Supreme Court in the first week of February seeking
fixing of responsibility and initiation of suitable action against
all such officials. (The copy of the entire petition will soon
be put here on website for download)
|
Delhi Vidyut Board is
planning to raise the electricity tariffs in Delhi with effect from
1.4.2001, despite the fact that there is 50% theft of electricity in
Delhi and DVB has no plans to address this issue. Before doing so,
it is required to seek approval of Delhi Electricity Regulatory
Commission (DERC). DERC has sought objections from the public on the
same. Parivartan has submitted detailed objections to the same. (A
copy of these objections will soon be put here on website for
download)
|
Parivartan had a
meeting with the Chairman of Delhi Vidyut Board, Mr Jagdish Sagar to
review the progress of resolution of grievances submitted by
Parivartan from time to time. He was informed that the Executive
Engineer of Mayur Vihar, Mr Brahm Pal, had not been responding well
to the grievances submitted by Parivartan. Next day, Mr Brahm Pal
was transferred by DVB Chairman. We thank Mr Sagar for responding so
promptly on our feedback. Mr Sagar has also ordered fixing of
responsibilities in some of the grave cases submitted by Parivartan.
He has also ordered all the Chief Engineers in Delhi to settle all
the grievances submitted by Parivartan at the earliest. |
Aaj Tak News
Channel has been telecasting Parivartan message free of cost for the
last few days. We thank them for supporting this cause. |
A camp was organised
by Ajay Singhal, Subodh Wadhwa, Dinesh Chugh, Diwan Singh and
Chander at Pitampura to spread the message of Parivartan.
Congratulations and cheers to the team! |
Parivartan has also
submitted a set of recommendations to DVB Chairman, which if
implemented, could prevent recurrence of such grievances. (A
copy of these recommendations will soon be put here on website for
download)
|
Parivartan started a monthly publication by the name
of "India Demands". Through this newspaper, wider issues
related to corruption, rights of people in various government
departments, etc would be taken up. The first issue was released on
26th jan, 2001. The annual subscription for the
same is Rs 25 only (including postage). Alternately, it is also
available at www.indiademands.com.
|
A heated discussion took place
between Parivartan and Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Delhi on
Jain TV on 23.1.01 on the issue of taxpayer grievances.
|
The students of IIT Delhi organised a camp in IIT Delhi today to spread the message "Don't pay bribes for income Tax refunds and in Delhi Vidyut Board. For any grievance, get in touch with Parivartan." The students were simply fabulous. There was a huge response to the camp. Amongst all the camps organised by Parivartan till now, it was one of the best. The meassge had been spread by the students in every nook and corner in IIT. A number of professors and employees turned up. Three cheers to the students. The students who organised the camp are : Vivek Kishore, Rajiv Kumar, Manpreet, Nitin, Aasharam, Amit and Saurabh. But definitely, Vivek needs a special mention for being the main force behind the entire effort.
|
The hearing on PIL on the issue of
Income Tax refunds filed by Parivartan took place on 12th Jan, 2001.
The Income Tax Department sought an adjournment. The next hearing
has been fixed on 26th Feb. The Court directed the Department to
submit an Action Taken report on the grievances of Parivartan and
the suggestions made.
|
We met Mr H D Shourie of Common
Cause. He was very impressd with the activities and strategy of
Parivartan. According to him, till now, noone had done this type of
work at the level of a common man to provide direct relief from
corruption. He promised to provide all assistance, whatever required
to make this movement stronger.
|
There
was a good coverage on Parivartan in Outlook magazine.
|
About 60% of the grievances submitted to Delhi Vidyut Board
till now have been resolved to the satisfaction of the consumers. On an average, they take about 2 to 3 months to resolve any grievance. However, in Mayur Vihar district, none of the grievances submitted to them till now have been resolved. This has been brought to the notice of the Chairman, DVB.
|
Parivartan filed a petition with the petitions committee of the Parliament to get the Income Tax refunds grievances resolved expeditiously and to have our suggestions implemented. We met the Chairman of the Committee, Mr Buddhadeb Acharia who is a CPI(M) MP. He was very appreciative of our work and strategy. According to him, he will formally call for the comments of Finance Ministry and then call us to give evidence.
Meanwhile, to inform you of the statistics, we have recd about 529 grievances on account of income tax refunds till now, out of which, the department has resolved about 250 grievances.
|
Parivartan filed PIL in Delhi High Court on the issue
of public grievances in Income Tax Department. The Court asked the
Department to file a status report on the same. This was covered by
almost all the newspapers including Times of India and Hindustan
Times.
|
Parivartan
put up a stall at the trade fair held in Delhi to spread the message
of Parivartan. The trade fair was very successful. It was for 10
days and every day 4 volunteers manned the stall. The public
response was overwhelming. 75 new volunteers joined Parivartan. Two new volunteers deserve a special mention - Mrs Ranjana Parashar and Mr Gulzar Husain joined Parivartan during the trade fair itself and were so impressed that they gave at least 5 hours daily at Parivartan stall thereafter. When we have such dedicated people, there is no reason why we can't bring a change. Someone had commented once- we are a first class people living in third class conditions. We hope it will change very soon.
|
Mr
Krishna, an NRI, sent a Draft of $200 and has promised to contribute
$50 every month.
|
The
monthly meeting, this month was also attended by the Inspector
General (Enforcement), Mr D Bagchi of Delhi Vidyut Board. He
appreciated the efforts of Parivartan and also shared his thoughts
on corruption.
|
There
was a coverage of Parivartan activities on Star News and Star TV. Mr
Jagdish Sagar, Chairman of DVB appreciated the efforts of Parivartan
in an interview given to Star News.
|
Parivartan
held a press conference to spread the message of Parivartan
|
Mr D
Bagchi, IG (Enforcement) of DVB also became a Parivartan volunteer.
|
Parivartan met
Finance Secretary, Mr Piyush Mankad on the Income Tax refund issue. Unfortunately, he was totally non-committal on any issue. It appears that a contempt petition in Nov is the only solution.
|
Go to top
|