New Delhi: In a bid to check pollution of water and ensure its judicious use, Lok Sabha on February 18 passed a Bill seeking about three-fold increase in the cess on water consumption by industries while abolishing cess on hydel-power projects.

The Water (Prevention and control of Pollution) Cess (Amendment) Bill was passed by a voice vote after Environment Minister T R Baalu told the House that about Rs 140 crore is likely to be raised annually from the cess of which 80 per cent would be given to state pollution control boards.

Winding up a discussion on the Bill, he said the legislation seeks to augment the resources of Central and state pollution control boards and promote economy in the use of water to check pollution.

With rapid expansion of industries and towns, the responsibility of pollution control boards have increased but there has been no commensurate rise in their resources and the current cess rates have not proved to be an effective deterrent to push consumers to reduce water use.

The Bill seeks to extend cess application to all categories of industries which consume water more than prescribed minimum quantity and discharge sewage or trade effluents, but cess on hydel power is proposed to be abolished on the recommendation of the standing committee.

Those who participated in the discussion included Raghuvansh Prasad Singh (RJD), E S Nachiappan (Cong), Moinul Hasan (CPM), Ramesh Chenithala (Cong), B K Deo (BJP), Dharamraj Singh Patel (SP), Prabodh Panda (CPI) and Ramdas Athawale (RPI).

PTI