Brace for cow cess on power & liquor

Ramkrishan Upadhyay
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, June 26

Be ready to pay more for electricity, liquor and vehicles as the UT Administration has approved a proposal of the Municipal Corporation to levy cow cess on various services.

Sources said Punjab Governor and UT Administrator VP Singh Badnore had approved the recommendation of the civic body. The cess will be imposed after inviting objections and suggestions from residents on the draft rules.

In July 2018, the MC had recommended imposition of the cow cess. The cess has been proposed on the Punjab pattern. According to the proposal, residents will have to pay Rs 500 as cow cess for the purchase of four-wheelers and Rs 200 for two-wheelers. Electricity consumers will have to pay 2 paise per unit as cow cess. There are around two lakh electricity consumers in Chandigarh. The cess will also be imposed on liquor bottles and the rate has been fixed at Rs 5 per bottle for country liquor and Rs 10 and Rs 5 per bottle on whisky and beer, respectively.

The Electricity Department, the Registering and Licensing Authority and the Excise and Taxation Department will collect the cess and hand it over to the MC. The revenue will be used to house impounded cattle.

The MC has three cattle pounds. Members of the MC House had agreed to levy the cess on the condition that the city would be made cattle-free.

Congress leader Devinder Singh Babla, Leader of the Opposition in the MC, opposed the move saying that the electricity rates were already high and the cess would add to the consumers’ burden.

The UT Administration had recently approved the MC’s budget proposal for 2019-2020 on the condition that it will generate more revenue by taking steps such as imposing more taxes.