60,000 people under I-T lens for cash transactions

TAXMEN WILL INTENSIFY SEARCHES AGAINST THOSE WHOSE BANK DEPOSITS DON’T MATCH THEIR INCOME, SOURCES TOLD HINDUSTAN TIMES

The Union government is planning to issue notices to more than 60,000 people to explain their sources of income, officials said, as part of the operation to hunt tax evaders that began with the November 8 demonetisation exercise.

The notices are being readied for people identified from their bank deposits and purchases in the days since high-value currency notes of 500- and 1000-denominations were made illegal,forcing them to present them at banks and RBI counters to retrieve their value.

Operation Clean Money was launched on January 31 to detect slush funds deposited with banks and used for highvalue purchases such as property and gold. “Under Operation Clean Money, more than 60,000 persons, including 1,300 high risk persons, have been identified for investigation into claims of excessive cash sales during the demonetisation period,” the finance ministry said, citing data until February. Government officials and economists had expected at least ₹1.5-2 lakh crore of “wealth destruction” as black money would either get destroyed or deposited in banks.

A major chunk of the black money amount deposited in banks is supposed to go to the coffers of the government as taxes, and rest get locked in the new bank deposit scheme under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY).

More than 500 establish ments such as restaurants, bars pubs and liquor shops along the highways in Mumbai and Thane can start serving liquor from Saturday.

The state government on Fri day issued a notification de-noti fying both the Eastern Express Highway (EEH) and Western Express Highway (WEH) and then handing them over for repair and maintenance to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).

This would mean the estab lishments that were banned from serving or selling liquor fol lowing the Supreme Court’s directive banning the sale of liquor within 500m can now do so.

According to the orders issued by the state public works depart ment (PWD), the highways have been de-notified and will be handed over to the MMRDA for the next five years. The decision was taken on the MMRDA’S request to hand over both the highways for repair and mainte nance. The reason being cited is that the MMRDA has taken up the work of building Metro lines along or across the highways The planning authority has also expressed willingness to bear the burden for this.

Both the highways begin in the middle of the city and there are a number of restaurants bars, pubs and liquor shops in close vicinity both in Mumba and Thane.

De-notifying these highways and handing them over to the MMRDA means these establish ments can start serving liquor