Shimla, Jul 25 (PTI) The Himachal Pradesh government on Tuesday notified the State Commission for Water Cess to levy a cess on 172 hydropower projects in the state, including the public sector projects.

The move is likely to generate annual revenue of approximately Rs 4,000 crore.

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The four-member commission headed by Amitabh Awasthi, included H M Dhareula, Arun Sharma and Joginder Singh as members. The headquarters of the commission would be in Shimla, a notification issued here said.

Awasthi is superannuating as Secretary of the Jal Shakti Department on July 31.

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The chairman and the members of the commission would hold office for three years, subject to an age limit of 65 years. It has been constituted under the provisions of the Himachal Pradesh Water Cess on Hydropower Generation Bill, 2023, passed by the state assembly on March 16, 2023.

The cess will be levied on the amount of water drawn during the process of hydropower generation, and projects with heads up to 30 metres will have to pay 10 paise per cubic metre.

Projects above 30 metre and up to 60 metre will pay 25 paise per cubic metre cess, projects with a head above 60 metre to up to 90 metre will pay 35 paise per cubic metre cess and projects with a head above 90 metre will pay 50 paise per cubic metre cess.

Registration with the commission would be mandatory for users intending to draw water for hydropower generation and shall submit a project report to the commission, sanctioned by the Director of Energy or Central Electricity Authority or any other authority as the case may be, it added.

The existing projects would be required to get registration within one month from the date the provisions of the bill come into force and the same would be granted within a month of the application.

The commission will assess water drawn for hydropower generation by installing flow measuring devices within the premises of the hydropower project and compute the cess amount.

However, Punjab and Haryana governments, which have a share in projects under Bhakra-Beas Management Board, have opposed the cess and passed resolutions in their respective legislatures.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)