THE ministry of environment and
forests is planning to introduce a
proposal to treble the existing
water cess rates at the current
monsoon session of Parliament,
following demands from fund-
starved state pollution control boards.
The ministry proposes to treble the existing rates of 1.5 paise on each kilolitre (ki) of water used
in industrial cooling, 2 paise per km
in domestic use, 4 paise per km in industries producing toxic (biodegradable)
effluents and 5 paise per km in industries
producing toxic (non-biodegradable)
effluents. The hike is expected to raise
the cess collections from Rs 30 crore to Rs 80 crore annually.
Besides, the parliamentary review
committee is scrutinising the process of
distribution of cess collection between
the Centre and the states. As per the
existing water cess disbursement
process, 25 per cent of the collection is
retained by the Centre for R & D on
clean technology or for pollution control implementation. The state boards
are asking for a reversal to the earlier
20:80 spilt between the Centre and the states.
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