Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government on Wednesday lifted the ban on felling of trees along roads to facilitate broadening of State roads. The State Cabinet at a meeting presided over by Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav decided to relax the rules under the Forest Act regarding ban on felling of trees for utilising the forest land along roads, Chief Secretary, R. Ramni told reporters here.

The government would, however, provide alternative land at another place to the forest department to carry out forestation programme, Mr. Ramani said adding this would ensure that the forest cover was maintained. As per prevailing rules, at least 10 mts forest cover on both sides of the roads was mandatory. This was hampering the various projects being carried out by national and State highways authorities, he added. The Govt. also decided to hike the compound tax on brick kilns and amend trade tax rules to increase the annual revenue of state exchequer by Rs. 175 crore.

The State Government has amended `Form 31' and `Form 33' on the import of commodities in the State which were grossly misused earlier by the trader community and has hiked the compounding tax in the brick kilns by 20 per cent.

Mr. Ramani said that now slab systems from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1 crore and above have been introduced in `Form-31', which is used by the traders to import their commodities from outside the state and pay the taxes later on. The government would get additional revenue of Rs 100 crore annually by this.

In another decision, the government has changed the format of `Form 33' which is being used with `Form 32' by the traders to bring commodities from outside the State. This form is misused by the traders engaged in the construction sector for bringing cement, iron and marble. From now on through `Form 33' the traders have to give details about their PAN number and the usage of the commodities brought from other States. The State will generate additional revenue of Rs 50 crore annually from the change in `Form 33'.

The Government has also hiked the compounding tax of the brick kilns by 20 per cent and has introduced compounding fee on entry tax on the import of coal to be used by the kiln. An additional revenue of Rs 25 crore per year would be generated by this hike. The government also approved an amendment in the Madhyamik Shiksha Chayan Board for promotion of primary section teachers in the aided secondary schools in the State. - PTI & UNI

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