1. Dues Mount for GHMC; Contractors in Strike Mode
The GHMC’s hand-to-mouth existence has hit its contractors badly and made them make rounds of the head office and branch offices, seeking payment of their pending bills. Bills for various works have been pending for almost three months, which is a long time, considering that they will have to pay the financiers and labour, they say.
Over 50 contractors staged a brief demonstration at the GHMC head office on Friday, under the banner of ‘Contractors’ Association of GHMC’, and served an ultimatum on the corporation for payment of dues by January 5. In the event of failure to pay, they threatened to stall works and go on hunger strike. Earlier, they met Additional Commissioner (Finance) D Jayaraj Kennedy and Chief Engineer (Housing) K Suresh Kumar, and gave them representation about the issue.
(Source: The Hindu)
2. ‘...No Undisputed Tax Payable’ - Mahesh Babu
Mahesh Babu’s legal team on Friday hit out at the GST Commissionerate for freezing two of his bank accounts without prior notice in connection with a 2007 service tax evasion case, despite the dispute being pending before the High Court. “Mahesh Babu is a law-abiding citizen complying with all fiscal legislations and has no undisputed tax payable,” a release by the team said.
Officials on Thursday attached the actor’s Axis Bank Jubilee Hills branch account and recovered Rs 42.9 lakh. They also froze his ICICI Bank account having a balance of Rs 1 crore in order to recover another Rs 31 lakh towards a total tax due of Rs 73.5 lakh. Mahesh owed the government Rs 18.5 lakh in service tax dues in 2007-08. The sum, along with interest and penalty now amounts to Rs 73.5 lakh. No cash can be withdrawn by the actor from the ICICI Bank account until Rs 31 lakh is credited to the government.
(Source: The New Indian Express)
3. TRS Plans Voter Enrolment Drive
Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has decided to take up a special drive on enrolment of new voters as part of revision of electoral rolls taken up by the Election Commission.
In a meeting with general secretaries of party, its working president K T Rama Rao on Friday asked the party workers to make efforts to enrol every eligible person as a voter, including those missing from the existing rolls due to various reasons. He stated that the party would set up special team headed by MLC and party office secretary M Srinivas Reddy in the party headquarters here to supervise the enrolment of new voters and inclusion of missing names. Asking the general secretaries of the party to coordinate with legislators and constituency in-charges concerned to get every eligible person enrolled as a voter, Rama Rao suggested them to involve mandal level party presidents and secretaries in the exercise to make the drive successful.
(Source: The Hindu)
4. Ganja Consumers Turn to Peddling?
With police keeping a strict vigil on the peddlers, it looks like the ganja consumers themselves are turning to peddling in attempt to exploit the void. According to officials, after a strict vigil on peddlers in Dhoolpet, the ganja consumers are said to be venturing into the by-lanes of this popular ganja hub. The reason is that around 1,200 people were caught and counselled for trying to buy the stuff.
This has left a vacuum in supply of the drugs to those in the city. This is where some consumers seem to have found a business opportunity. Telangana Prohibition and Excise Department officials suspect that some consumers are taking up the illegal trade as they detected three such cases in span of one month.
There is a pattern in the way the accused, all youngsters, in three cases conducted the business. They used to procure it from Araku in Andhra Pradesh and sell it in Hyderabad.
(Source: The New Indian Express)
5. Guinness Glory for Telangana Cancer Institute
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has congratulated the Department of Health, Medical and Family Welfare and the MNJ Institute of Oncology on achieving two world records — the Guinness World Records and High Range World Records by the cancer institute. KC Rao described it as one of the biggest achievements for Telangana government as MNJ is the first and only government hospital to achieve two world records.
MNJ Institute of Oncology organised the largest men’s gathering of health awareness on prostrate cancer in Hyderabad on October 26 this year. The awareness programme, held on Cancer Day, saw the participation of 487 men. A 45-minute session on prostate cancer was conducted by a group of doctors from MNJ Institute.
(Source: The Hindu)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)