3 Bills tabled in House

Dharamsala, December 12

Three Bills, the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Amendment) Bill 2018, the HP Goods and Services Tax Amendment Bill 2018 and the HP Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Samvadhan Bill 2018, were tabled in the House today.

In the NDPS Bill 2018, the government has proposed to amend Section 37. Under the section, earlier the people caught with small quantities of narcotics ranging up to 5 gm were granted bail on the presumption that they were addicts and not peddlers. However, under the amendment, the government has proposed to make offences under Section 37 of the NDPS Act cognizable and non-bailable. Under the HP Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Samvadhan Bill 2018, the government proposes to establish an agency for the preservation and welfare of cows, bulls and oxen. The agency will have right to register stray cattle and control gau sadans.

The government will pay income generated from temple trusts and cess levied from liquor to the agency for the maintenance of cattle. It has been proposed that the government will pay Rs 5.30 crore for setting up the agency and a recurring expenditure of Rs 2.95 crore.

The Minister for Animal Husbandry will be the chairman of the agency and it will have a nominated vice-chairman and 11 members. — TNS