NRIS WANT TAX REBATES FOR DONATING TO PROJECTS

In efforts to give Punjab villages a "facelift", former Canadian Revenue Minister Harbance Singh Dhaliwal has asked the Central government to assist in NRI-funded rural development projects in the state in terms of tax rebates to donors. "Indo-Canadian Friendship Society of British Columbia and its sister organisation India-Canada Village Improvement Trust is funding the projects for sustainable rural development and we request the Central government to offer tax concessions for donations made to such projects," Dhaliwal said at a function here yesterday. The millionaire former Labour Party MP from Vancouver also demanded a direct flight between Amritsar and the British Columbia capital. He said the Canadian government was giving tax rebates to those contributing to community and public welfare projects and asked other governments to do likewise. The Punjab government, which was earlier giving matching grants on dollar-to-dollar basis, had now "agreed to enhance its share to 75 per cent", he said. He said village projects had been completed at a cost of Rs 5 crore and "we want the Central government to play a vanguard role in a three-way vehicle to give villages in Punjab a facelift". Dhaliwal, who is known by his nickname Herb, was in the district in connection with the launch of a Rs one crore sewage and water supply project at his native Chaheru village. – www.economictimes.indiatimes.com