Provision to refund 80 percent of Water Cess collected by State to State Governments

Lok Sabha

Upto 80 percent of the water cess amount collected by the Pollution Control Boards in the States (SPCBs) and Pollution Control Committees in the Union Territories (PCCs) is to be reimbursed to the SPCBs/PCCs in accordance with Section 8 of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act, 1977, read with Ministry of Environment & Forests order No.Q-17011/1/88-CPW dated 28.12.1998.

The details of water cess collected by SPCBs/PCCs for the period April, 2007 to December, 2008 and the amount reimbursed to SPCBs/PCCs out of the collections for the said period are given in Annexure. As and when budgetary allocations are made for reimbursement of water cess, appropriate amounts are released to the SPCBs/PCCs.

There is no proposal under consideration to make provision for sending the remaining amount to Central Government after deducting the share of State Boards

This information was given by the Minister of State for Environment and Forests (independent charge) Shri Jairam Ramesh in a written reply to a question by Smt.Yashodhara Raje Scindia in Lok Sabha today.

KP/