A total of 42 industrial units in Chhattisgarh have not paid water tax to the tune of Rs 614 crore, BJP member Devjibhai Patel stated in the Chhattisgarh Assembly on Thursday.
In a reply to the BJP member during the question hour, the Water Resources Minister Brijmohan Agrawal said that water was being supplied from different water sources to 57 industries in the State and only 15 industrial companies have paid their water cess,.
The companies due to pay water cess to the Government included M/s Bhatia Wine Merchants Pvt.ltd (Rs 2.33 crore) M/s Nova Iron and Steel ltd (Rs 4.2 crore), Wardha Power (Rs 26.95 crore), M/s Chhattisgarh Steel and Power (5.8 crore) , Salasar Steel & Power ( Rs 3.42 crore ), Singhal Enterprises (Rs 99 lakh), M/s Ind Synergy ltd, (Rs 27.42 crore), National Thermal Power Corporation, (Rs 25 crore), and Balco (Rs 6.84 crore) besides a large number of other units.
Patel asked why the Government has not been taking steps to recover the total outstanding sum against the industries which is one fourth of the State’s budget. Replying to the legislator, the minister said it was an ongoing process and the Government has provision of collecting water tax from time to time as per the rates fixed by the Government from time to time.
He also said there was also a provision of imposing penalty three times of the pending dues. Agrawal also said the Government was not able to recover the dues from some companies as they moved the court against it. He however informed that efforts were on to recover the pending tax from both private and government companies.
‘We will also ask the defaulting industrial units to close down if they don't respond to our repeated notices to pay tax,' the Minister said.