Bhupender Hooda begins assembly campaign with range of sops

CHANDIGARH: The ruling Congress in Haryana unleashed another round of sops in its bid for a third consecutive term in the state overtly mindful of its near rout in the recently held Lok Sabha elections.

The state will host assembly elections in October and chief minister Bhupender Hooda addressed house-owners, contractual employees, women and ex-servicemen while handing out a slew of concessions to woo the electorate.

So, if families have been exempt from paying stamp-duty on property transfers, pension has been raised for ex-servicemen and women loan-seekers under self-help groups spared of duty. A regularisation policy has been put in place for contractual employees and relief provided in goods and passenger tax.

“BJP contested the Lok Sabha polls in the name of one person (Narendra Modi). People in Haryana have understood the ploy,” Hooda said soon after the cabinet meeting that finalised the concessions.

The chief minister is under fire from the party for losing nine out 10 Lok Sabha seats, but Hooda put up a brave face. “People will vote for progress and policies made in the state,” he said expressing confidence that his party would score a hat-trick in the coming state elections. Hooda said that from June 5 onwards he would hold meetings with the party workers at district level to chalk out a strategy for the forthcoming elections. Also meetings with district authorities to review the development works in the region would be conducted, added.

He also assured to lower toll charges on national highways by urging the Centre to chip in. "The toll charges under 2008 policy are so high that currently the average user has to pay Rs 2.28 per kilometer as compared to Rs 1.17 in the revised 2010 policy. The NHAI will collect a premium of about Rs 2,200 crore for the concession period," he said.

The Cabinet also authorised the Principal Secretary of PWD (B&R) to finalise the modalities for providing relief to users of different categories like cars, jeeps, maxi-cabs and light commercial vehicles by entering into a dialogue with the concessionaires. A proposal would be brought before the Cabinet within a fortnight.

Exemption of stamp duty on immovable property will benefit blood relations like parents, children, grand children, brothers, sisters apart from spouses. “Issues relating to transfer of property among these blood relations lead to disputes and litigation especially in rural areas,” Hooda said.

Under the programme of National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), deprived sections including women SHGs have been promoted for taking loans for setting up economic activities. Loans to SHGs are given by banks under priority sector and are classified as ‘weaker sector financing’ as per the RBI classification of advances. Stamp duty on such loans, small in amount as they comparatively are, is not viewed solely as the source of revenue to the state government.

A state government statement said the decision to exempt SHGs and their higher level federations like Village Organisations (VOs) and Block & District Level Federations from stamp duty will generate income for poor and deprived sections.