Energy cess is not going to be hiked in Chandigarh, Mayor Kuldeep Kumar confirmed on Thursday. A day after the Chandigarh Municipal Company circulated an agenda to debate the cess hike on energy, the Union Territory (UT) Chandigarh mayor directed varied officers to withdraw it. The agenda now stands withdrawn and won’t be mentioned within the upcoming assembly of the civic physique.
Whereas confirming the event to The Indian Categorical, Kumar mentioned: “I’ve directed the commissioner to withdraw the agenda. No energy cess shall be hiked”. When quizzed on how the agenda arrived, the mayor mentioned someway it received “misinterpreted”.
On Wednesday, the agenda merchandise was circulated to be introduced for dialogue within the Home assembly of the municipal company (MC) scheduled for Saturday, by which the Chandigarh administrator may also be in attendance.
“Because the MC is experiencing a monetary crunch at current, it’s exploring sources of income technology. It’s, subsequently, proposed that the municipal cess on electrical energy consumption could be enhanced from 10 paise per unit to 16 paise per unit on the sample of Punjab state,” the agenda merchandise had said.
The MC has said that it had imposed municipal cess on electrical energy consumption inside its limits at 10 paise per unit in December 2019, which is contributing to an incomes of Rs 15-16 crore every year. With the hike to 16 paise per unit, the company was anticipating a rise of the income to Rs 22 crore every year.
The municipal tax in Punjab is being charged on the fee of two per cent on electrical energy consumption, which roughly comes out to be 16 paise per unit and in Haryana, it’s being charged at 8 paise per unit.
After reviews of the cess hike, there was widespread criticism. The Congress too mentioned it might oppose the agenda.
Just a few months in the past even energy tariff was hiked
Just a few months in the past, the Joint Electrical energy Regulatory Fee (JERC) had authorised a tariff hike of 9.4 per cent for the monetary yr 2024-2025 for electrical energy consumption in Chandigarh with impact from August 1. As per the mandate of the Electrical energy Act, 2003, the ability tariff is regulated and decided by the JERC after bearing in mind the price of energy purchases, income realisation, and different expenditure to make sure the sustainability of energy.
