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Mar 23, 2023

Punjab, Haryana Assemblies Pass Unanimous Resolutions on Himachal's 'Illegal' Water Cess

The Himachal Pradesh government defended its decision to levy water cess on hydropower power projects for the non-consumptive use of water. The cess will put an additional burden of Rs 1,200 crore on Haryana and Punjab.
Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Singh Mann in the assembly on March 22, 2023. Photo: Twitter/@BhagwantMann

New Delhi: Punjab and Haryana state assemblies on Wednesday, March 22, unanimously passed resolutions against the Himachal Pradesh government’s decision to levy a water cess on hydropower power projects for non-consumptive use of water.

While urging Himachal Pradesh to revoke the decision, Punjab and Haryana governments sought the Union government’s intervention in the matter. Meanwhile, Himachal Pradesh is of the view that it is well within its rights to impose a cess.

Moving the resolution in the Punjab Assembly, water resources minister, Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, declared that not a single paisa would be paid to Himachal Pradesh. “With the new levy of water cess, the Himachal Pradesh government is trying to put an avoidable tax burden on Punjab,” the resolution reads, according to New Indian Express.

It further added that the decision would impose an additional burden of Rs 1,200 crore on Punjab and Haryana together, the large share of which would be borne by Punjab.

Calling it an “infringement of the exclusive rights of the state over its natural resources”, the resolution highlighted that the cess will go against the provisions of the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956.

“This House strongly and unanimously resolves that the cess imposed by Himachal is illegal and should be withdrawn,” the Punjab resolution declared.

A similar resolution moved by Haryana chief minister, Manohar Lal Khattar, noted that the resolution is not binding on Haryana and appealed to the Himachal Pradesh government to withdraw the decision. The members of the Haryana Assembly unanimously supported the decision and passed the resolution.

“Of the Rs 1,200 crore additional cost, Rs 336 crore burden will fall on Haryana. The water cess 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 in releasing 7.19% of electricity of the composite share of Haryana and Punjab to Himachal,” Khattar noted while speaking about the resolution, according to Tribune.

For his part, Punjab chief minister, Bhagwant Mann, called the move a “major setback to the interests of Punjab and its people”. Unlike in the past, the chief minister noted that Punjab – which literally means land of five rivers – today faces a serious challenge for potable drinking water.

“It’s illegitimate and irrational… aimed at dividing the country… it’s not ‘Bharat Jodo’, but ‘Bharat Todo’ campaign,” he said, targeting the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh headed by chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.

Sukhu said he will hold discussions with his counterparts in Punjab and Haryana after examining the resolutions passed by the two states to “clarify their doubts”.

However, he maintained that his state is well within its right to impose the cess. “Uttarakhand and J&K have already imposed water cess and it in no way infringes on the rights of other states. The riparian law doesn’t prohibit Himachal from imposing cess on power generation,” Tribune quoted him as saying.

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