UP-ites will have a reason to smile this Diwali as piped natural gas (PNG) will cost less with the state government rationalising Value Added Tax on natural gas and approving a proposal to set up common facility centres at all districts under One District, One Product (ODOP) scheme.
The government also decided to introduce new colour scheme for commercial vehicles so that taxis could be recognised from some distance.
These decisions were taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow on Tuesday.
Government spokesperson and Power Minister Shrikant Sharma said the government had waived of 5 per cent additional VAT levied on PNG used for domestic purpose and industries, including urea manufacturing units.
“Earlier, there were three slabs of VAT. The domestic supply was levied 26 per cent VAT that included 21 per cent VAT and 5 per cent additional VAT. Industries had 10 per cent VAT and urea units 10 per cent VAT and 5 per cent additional VAT. The Cabinet has now rationalised VAT and it will be 10 per cent,” Sharma said.
The government spokesman said that due to this, urea bags would be cheaper by about Rs 35 per bag while piped gas would be cheaper by almost 16 per cent.
The decision will result in a revenue loss of around Rs 1,000 crore to the state exchequer.
In another decision, the government amended the provisions of Motor Vehicles Act by making it mandatory for bike taxis, auto taxis and other taxis run by Uber or Ola to print ‘taxi’ on their vehicles. The government also fixed colour schemes for CNG vehicles, which will be green. and for electric vehicles, which will be white.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the UP government and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of the Government of Japan to set up food value chains in the state was also approved by the Cabinet. The MoU was signed during Krishi Kumbh last week under which UP government will provide facilities to Japanese entrepreneurs to set up units in the state.
Sharma said the government also decided to set up ODOP common facility centres in all districts where test labs, research labs, raw material banks, development lab for concerned products along with other facilities could be set up.
Ten facilities will be set up at the centre and users will have to pay for using them.
These facility centres will be set up at a cost of Rs 15 crore of which 90 per cent will be granted by the state government. District-level committees chaired by district magistrates will set up Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) which will pay the remaining 10 per cent cost and will charge users.
In another decision, the Yogi government approved a proposal to provide 2 kg sugar per person at the rate of Rs 17 per kg to pilgrims staying in Prayagraj Kumbh Mela. Around 20 lakh pilgrims will be staying around the Sangam for 45 days starting from January 14 next. The government will spend around Rs 11.11 crore in purchasing 31.74 metric tons of sugar for the pilgrims.
However, akharas, maths and other religious outfits serving the pilgrims will not be bound by any quota and they will be able to avail sugar as per their necessity.
In order to make purchase of text books, given free to students of classes 1 to 8, in state-run schools more competitive, the government eased the terms and condition of tenders.
Earlier, it was compulsory to print these books on watermark paper, now this clause has been removed.
Similarly, earlier companies producing 100 tons of paper daily were eligible for filling tenders, now the limit has been brought down to 50 tons per day. Also, earnest money required to submit tender has been reduced from two to one per cent of the total procurement.
The government also approved funds for the construction of Korean princess’ Queen Hu Memorial Park in Ayodhya and the Chief Minister has been given all powers for sanction of funds for the project.
The government also approved amendments to UP Sub-inspector and Inspectors Rules and now training will be imparted to the promoted sub-inspectors and inspectors before their promotion and not after it.
The Cabinet also gave its nod for bringing an ordinance to provide more administrative powers to Jal Nigam chairman by making amendments to UP Water Management and Sewage Act.
