No ‘toilet’ tax in Himachal, BJP’s claims baseless: Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has categorically denied any plan or decision to impose a ‘toilet tax’ in the state. He said that such baseless claims were being made for electoral gains in the Haryana Assembly elections. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has slammed the state government for imposing the ‘toilet tax’ through a post on X.

“Such claims are baseless and should not be used for political purposes. In the light of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha elections, the BJP is either playing the religion card or raising the fabricated toilet tax issue,” he said.

The ‘toilet’ tax controversy was triggered after the government issued a notification on September 21 to revise the rates of water supply in the state from October 1. A section of the notification read: ‘Where in urban areas, some establishments use their own water sources and the sewerage system of the department, sewerage charges be levied at the rate of Rs 25 per seat per month’. Almost two weeks after the notification was issued, the issue has snowballed into a major controversy, with Union Finance Minister and other BJP leaders also weighing in on the matter.

According to Onkar Chand Sharma, Additional Chief Secretary, Jal Shakti Department, the notification was withdrawn the same day after Minister for Jal Shakti Department Mukesh Agnihotri found it “absurd”.

As to why the decision to levy sewerage charges per seat in some establishments in urban areas was taken in the first place, Sharma said the charge was proposed for a small number of hotels and institutions that were not using the piped water supplied by the department. “For the consumers using the water supplied by the department, the sewerage charges are 30 per cent of the total water used by them. However, some hotels and institutions were not using the water supplied by the department but were using the sewerage connections of the department. So, this method was proposed to levy sewerage charges on such establishments,” said Sharma.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister alleged that the previous BJP government had offered free sops worth Rs 5,000 crore, including the provision of free water in rural areas, before the 2022 elections. “Our government has taken steps to rationalise the water subsidy and imposed minimal charges of Rs 100 per connection per month in rural areas. And people who can pay have no issues in paying the charges,” he said.

Controversy after notification issued

• The ‘toilet’ tax controversy was triggered after the government issued a notification on September 21 to revise the rates of water supply in the state from October 1
• The notification was withdrawn the same day after Minister for Jal Shakti Department Mukesh Agnihotri found it “absurd”