According to the latest estimate, various industrial units owe Rs 2,658 crore to the State Government as water cess by July this year. Water Resources Minister Niranjan Pujari informed this to the Assembly while replying to a question of BJP member Dilip Ray.
The Minister said the Government has taken steps to collect the outstanding cess from the industrial establishments and those who are the defaulters, 2 per cent compound interest is being imposed per month. Various committees have been formed under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary and the Water Resources Secretary to collect the water cess.
In the last two years, the State Government has collected Rs 147 crore as water cess from the Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL), while Rs 58 crore as water cess from Nalco has been collected last year. This apart, the engineers of the Water Resource Department have been directed to the collect the outstanding water cess.
The Minister said Rs 1,833.35 crore water tax could not be collected due to stay orders by courts. However, the Government has moved the Orissa High Court for collection of 50 per cent of the outstanding water cess from the firms those who have lodged cases.
According to sources, about 346 corporate houses, including NINL, OMC, PPL, PPT, MCL, Nalco, Vedanta, Aditya Alluminium, Facor, Konark Jute, Ballarpur Industries Limited, Arati Steel, Maheswari Ispat, Bhusan, Adhunik Metallics, Idco, OCL, NTPC and Jindal owe a huge amount to the State Government as water cess. Several of them like Tata Steel, Tata Refractories, SAIL, Asika Sugar Mill, Jindal, Bhusan and Vedanta have moved court in the matter.