News and Events in the last few months:

 

February, 2001:

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)

 

January, 2001

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.

 

December, 2000

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.

 

 

November, 2000

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.

 

October, 2000

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.

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