Rs2 syndrome
Uttarakhand albeit being lauded as Ayush Pradesh, things are sad on the ground. They are so miserable that the State government does not have enough funds to procure such medicines. Sadly enough, the State Government keeps slashing the budget meant for it year after year. Things have come to such a pass that the government has not the requisite funds to procure medicines. Interestingly, the State government is disinclined to raise the registration fee due at the Ayush outlets in the Assembly and the Secretariat from the present Rs2 per prescription. Despite the rate being so incredibly low, the Ayush practitioners sitting in the Vidhan Sabha and the secretariat lament that the patients who visit them are unwilling to pay the fee, citing one or the other excuses. Things being such, the doctors are giving money out of their pockets every month to fill the deficit. Confronting the problem, the hapless practitioners of Homeopathy and Ayurveda have pasted notice, asking the patients to kindly pay Rs2 for each prescription. They wonder why the highly paid government officials are shying away from paying the microscopic sum. “This is perhaps because cheapness vulgarises the particular medical treatment known as Ayush. Once the registration fee is raised adequately the treatment system would inspire a sort of awe among those who are willing to avail it in preference to Allopath. At the same time, it would add to the State’s coffers,” one of the practitioners of Ayush said.
Form 16 hanky panky
Despite the State finance department claiming to have made everything electronically operating, the Form -16- mandatory to be filled by the businessmen while they are transporting goods- remains a tricky issue. Interestingly, the particular form is being dealt with manually and this is what is punching holes in the electronic transaction system. This is despite the fact that the department suffers from no staff crunch. The rot seems deeply set in the system as a section of the officials choose to connive with the errant traders to earn extra bucks. What is happening is that to avoid tax department’s wrath, a section of the traders fill Form -16, but they later do not turn up to pay up the dues with no record being maintained. While transporting goods, if they are stopped midway they show the forms to move on. But the exchequer is turning poorer with some of them not being inclined to pay what they are bound to pay as per the norms. This is going on despite the fact that the state government is moving all out to replenish its depleting coffer. Observers say that the only means to plug the loophole is to make the process of filing of Form 16 electronically. Things are indeed surprising as the chief minister says days in and days out that they must somehow add Rs 1200 crores to the exchequer through full-fledged resource mobilization. It is believed that if the Form 16 loophole is plugged it can easily fetch a huge amount of Rs 1500-Rs 2000 crore annually. However, things are vegetating with the unscrupulous traders getting away with their acts with impunity, taking full advantage of the hanky panky ruling the roost.