Swachh Bharat tax in the offing: CMs’ panel for cess on petrol, telcos, coal, ore

HYDERABAD/NEW DELHI: If the government accepts the recommendations of Niti Aayog’s Chief Ministers’ panel, petrol and telecom services may become dearer.

To fund the government’s ambitious Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), the committee has suggested levying cess on these commodities including minerals like coal and iron ore. It has also asked to provide a construction aid of Rs 15,000 per toilet and barring people who do not have toilets in their homes from contesting elections.

The panel, headed by AP CM N. Chandrababu Naidu, on Wednesday finalised its report on SBM. Apart from recommending levy of cess, it has also suggested viability gap funding, tax exemptions and separate tariff for waste-to-energy and compost projects.

The recommendations have been made mainly to address the concern raised by states that the funding for the SBM should come mainly from the Centre as states don’t have the financial wherewithal to fund such a major initiative on their own.

“Government of India has to levy cess on telecom services, petrol, diesel, iron ore and mineral wealth like coal to pool funds for achieving Swachh Bharat in the next five years,” Mr Naidu told reporters after the meeting in New Delhi.

“The sub-group has entrusted Niti Aayog to prepare the report on the panel’s recommendations in the next 10 days and all CMs will then seek an appointment from the PM to submit the report.” Elaborating further, Mr Naidu said the panel has recommended that the financial burden for implementing the programme should be shared in the ratio of 75:25 between the Centre and states, while it should be 90:10 for difficult states (i.e. those with hilly terrain).

It has suggested that performing states should be allocated special funds as an incentive. For proper treatment of solid and liquid waste, he said that the panel has suggested ways on how to go about solid and liquid waste management.