Environment, milk cess on power consumers proposed in Himachal

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu today introduced the Himachal Pradesh Electricity Duty Amendment Bill, 2024, in the Assembly, proposing to impose a milk cess and an environment cess on power consumers. The Bill proposed to impose a milk cess of Rs 0.10 per unit on power consumers, excluding zero-bill consumers. As per the Bill, the milk cess could be modified up to 50 per cent through government notifications. The revenue collected from the cess would be used to strengthen and uplift milk producers.

No payments

If required, the money spent on these works will be deducted from the salaries of the officials concerned. Also, payment for all such works done by department officials will be stopped. Mukesh Agnihotri, Deputy CM

Besides the milk cess, the Bill also proposed an environmental cess, which would be levied on various categories of power consumers. This cess was proposed at Rs 0.02 per unit for small industrial power consumers, Rs 0.04 per unit for medium industrial power consumers, and Rs 0.10 per unit for large industrial and commercial power consumers. A charge of Rs 2 per unit would be levied on temporary connections and stone crushers while electric vehicle charging stations would have to pay a higher rate of Rs 6 per unit.

The purpose of the environment cess was to promote power generation through solar energy in the state and protect the environment. Like the milk cess, the environment cess rates could also be modified by up to 50 per cent through government notifications. The Bill would be discussed in the Assembly tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri said that strict action would be taken against Jal Shakti Department officials, who had gone beyond their “area of operation”.

While participating in a discussion on an attention motion brought by MLA Pawan Kajal under Rule 62, Agnihotri said that action would be taken against the department officials who had built roads and constructed cremation grounds by going beyond their jurisdiction.

He said that the family members of a junior engineer, who was washed away during the inspection of the Daulatpur Jaladi, Samela and Sakot lift drinking water schemes, would be given a job by relaxing rules. He added that most of the work of these two schemes had been completed and they would be inaugurated soon.

Agnihotri said that the government would open one division of the Jal Shakti Department in every Assembly constituency of the state. “Such divisions have already been opened in 64 Assembly constituencies and only four segments are remaining. The Kangra Assembly constituency is also included on the list and opening a division there is under government consideration,” he added.

Agnihotri said that the work on 28 drinking water schemes in the Kangra Assembly constituency had been completed and the work on 10 schemes was in progress. He added that under the Jal Jeevan Mission, 10 schemes of Rs 24.07 crore had been approved for the Kangra constituency. “The work on eight schemes has been completed while the work on two schemes is in progress. Under these schemes, taps have been installed in 6,096 houses,” he said.