Assam govt drops ex-president Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed's name from medical college in Barpeta
Guwahati, Mar 10 (PTI): The Assam government on Tuesday decided to rename Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Medical College and Hospital as Barpeta Medical College and Hospital.
Addressing a press conference after a meeting of the state cabinet, which approved the decision, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said most government medical colleges in the state are named after the places where they are located.
"All our medical colleges are named after their locations. We see that in the medical colleges in Guwahati, Dhubri, Silchar, Bongaigaon, Biswanath and Sonitpur. Somehow, the Barpeta one was named as Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Medical College and Hospital, which does not align with the naming pattern of other medical colleges," he said.
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Sarma said the cabinet decided to rename the institution to avoid confusion.
"Because of its name, many people ask whether it is a private medical college. That is why the cabinet today decided to change the name and make it Barpeta Medical College and Hospital," he said.
Sarma said the government would name another institution after former President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed in recognition of his stature.
"As Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was India's president and the first one from Assam, the cabinet decided that another educational or cultural institution of the same or higher stature will be named after him. We will take a decision in this regard to keep his name alive," he added.
Established in 2011, the medical college is affiliated with Srimanta Sankardeva University of Health Sciences and has been offering undergraduate courses since 2012 and postgraduate medical education since 2019.
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Bengaluru: EMI option proposed for property tax payments
Bengaluru: The State Finance Commission (SFC) has proposed introducing an EMI scheme for property tax payments in Bengaluru to improve collection efficiency and ease the burden on taxpayers, The Indian Express reported on Wednesday.
The move, as per the fifth SFC report on five city corporations under Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA), would help in increasing property tax collection efficiency. “A lump-sum payment each year might be difficult to manage, and splitting it into monthly payments might make it easier to pay while also softening the impact,” the report said.
The commission has also suggested offering rebates for timely payment of property tax, similar to the 5 per cent rebate previously offered by the erstwhile Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). Such a measure, the SFC observed, “can also incentivise people to pay on time.”
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Data cited in the report shows that as of September last year, the BBMP had identified around 2.75 lakh defaulters who owed Rs 786 cr in property tax dues. This came after the civic body recovered nearly Rs 1,200 crore in arrears through a one-time settlement scheme, which offered a full waiver of interest on arrears and a 50 per cent reduction in penalties.
According to the SFC, bringing unassessed properties under the tax net was expected to add approximately Rs 1,000 crore annually to the property tax revenue of five city corporations. It was being done by integrating the GIS-based e-khata system with the property tax system. The report said that “There are nearly five lakh properties that have not been brought under the tax net and remain unassessed.”
Another recommendation includes cross-checking property tax records with Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) data, especially for new connections, using GBA’s building licence data.
