Water cess on hydro power projects: Himachal Cabinet forms committee under Power Secy
Shimla: Met with stiff resistance and also litigation on the state government’s move to impose water cess on hydro-power projects, the Himachal Pradesh Cabinet on Tuesday decided to constitute a committee under the chairmanship of Secretary Power to hold discussions with the Power developers on water cess to be imposed on various power projects.
The committee will also have representatives of Jal Shakti Vibhag, the Finance Department and the Law Department too,
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu chaired the meeting.
The state Assembly had passed Himachal Pradesh Water Cess on Hydropower Generation Bill, 2023 passed on March 16, 2023, to levy water cess as part of the resource mobilisation effort. Besides major power developers, some of the state governments viz Haryana and Punjab have also opposed the move.
The Central government has also written to the state conveying its opposition to the move and had told PSUs not to pay the cess. This puts the state government in a new dilemma though the Chief Minister has agreed to listen to the developers.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet gave its nod to open and commence construction of Rajiv Gandhi government Model Day Boarding schools up to the primary level at three more sites at Jwalamukhi and Fatehpur of Kangra district and Bhoranj in Hamirpur district. The Cabinet has already approved the start of construction of such schools at 13 sites in the state.
State Cabinet gave its nod to open three new Highway-cum-Tourist Police Stations at Baghed in district Bilaspur, Nerchowk in Mandi district and Bhunter in the Kullu district on Kiratpur-Manali National Highway along with the creation and filling up of requisite posts of different categories to man the stations.
The Kiratpur Manali four-lane project is on completion to cut down journey time between Chandigarh and Manali by four and a half four.
The cabinet also decided to fill up 69 posts of jail warders in the Prisons Department. Additionally, the Cabinet also approved to fill up 20 posts of different categories in Sub-Jail Nalagarh (Kishanpura) of Solan district in the Department of Prisons.
The cabinet decided to enhance the monthly honorarium of part-time Panchayat Chowkidars from Rs 6,200 to Rs 6,700 to be effective from April 1, 2023. This will benefit about 3,226 panchayat chowkidars in the State. Furthermore, it was also decided to increase the honorarium of elected representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions.
The Cabinet gave its nod to fix the timing of Bars from 12 Noon to 1 AM for the year 2023-24. Now, the bars will remain open till early morning at the tourist destinations to fulfil a major demand of the hoteliers and restaurant owners.
It also decided to introduce a paperless registration system in the Employment Exchanges to facilitate job seekers.
The Cabinet gave its nod to start medical and non-medical classes in Government College, Dhami in district Shimla along with the creation and filling up of requisite posts of different categories.
