Hiamchal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukvinder Singh Sukhu clarified on Thursday that “none of the provisions of the water Cess Act passed by the state violates the water rights of neighbouring states.”
He further stated that the water cess has already been imposed by various state governments like Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir governments.
“None of the provisions of this Act violates the water rights of neighbouring states,” CM Sukhu said. “I would like to inform the House that this Act in no way violates the provisions of the Inter-State River Dispute Act-1956 or any other MoU and I want to assure all the neighbouring states that this Ordinance will not affect Legitimate Rights,” CM Sukhu assured.
“On the same lines, the Government of Himachal Pradesh has set up various power generation agencies to increase the revenue of the state. The cess is levied on water used by established hydropower projects and not on water flowing across neighbouring state borders,” CM Sukhu informed.
CM Sukhu made his comments after the governments of Punjab and Haryana objected to the Water Cess Act of 2023, which the governments of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab had introduced.
The claim by Punjab and Haryana that the Himachal government’s plan to levy a water cess is in violation of the Inter-State River Disputes Act, 1956, was later refuted by CM Sukhu as being illogical because it has no bearing on the water given to adjacent states.
“I also want to bring to notice that imposing water cess on power generation is under the jurisdiction of the state and it is logical that about 45000-hectare land of the state was submerged by the reservoirs of three projects of BBMB in the state. In Himachal Pradesh, the state does not have any right over the water from the reservoirs created by these projects, but the adverse environmental impact of these reservoirs Himachal has been facing for decades, be it local climate change, adverse changes in agriculture and horticulture, facing health problems, social and economic changes, all these changes have affected the reservoirs of these projects. Has badly affected human life,” the CM added.