The Haryana Vidhan Sabha, on the last day of the Budget session on Wednesday, unanimously passed a resolution against Himachal Pradesh government’s decision to levy water cess on the hydro-power projects.

While strongly opposing the ordinance passed by the Himachal Pradesh government to “impose Water Cess on Hydropower Projects for non-consumptive use of water for power generation”, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said, “This water cess is illegal and not binding on the State of Haryana and therefore the same should be withdrawn immediately by the Himachal Government.”

Khattar moved a resolution to oppose this Ordinance, which was unanimously supported and passed by the entire House. “The House also urged the Central Government to prevail upon the Himachal Pradesh Government to withdraw the Ordinance as the same is in violation of the Central Act i.e. Inter-State Water Disputes Act, 1956. With this new levy there will be an additional financial burden amounting to Rs 1,200 crore per annum on partner states out of which around Rs 336 crore will be burden on the state of Haryana. This new levy is not only an infringement of the exclusive rights of the state over its natural resources but will also result in additional financial burden for generation of power resulting in the higher cost of generation of electricity,” Khattar said.

“The levy of water cess by the government of Himachal Pradesh is against the provision of the Inter State Water Dispute Act, 1956. The state of Haryana through the Bhakra Beas Management Projects is already liberal to release 7.19 per cent of electricity of the composite share of Haryana and Punjab to Himachal Pradesh,” the Chief Minister added.