Uttarakhand government won’t allot any new works to Uttar Pradesh Nirman Nigam
A ban on the Uttar Pradesh Nirman Nigam, ending of 1 per cent cess levied on petrol and diesel, equipping PDS shops with point-of-sale (PoS) machines and granting one-time relaxation to businessmen on pending VAT cases (three years) were some of the decisions taken by the state Cabinet yesterday.
Briefing mediapersons about the Cabinet decisions, Uttarakhand Cabinet minister Madan Kaushik, who has also been designated as the government’s spokesperson, said the Uttarakhand Government would not hire construction company Uttar Pradesh Nirman Nigam for carrying out construction works in the state. “A financial and technical assessment will be made by a third party and the government’s Department of Planning of the projects that the construction company has in hand and in case of deviations, action will be taken,” said Kaushik.
The Cabinet also approved the abolishing of 1 per cent cess on petrol and diesel being charged by petrol pumps located in Uttarakhand and on the state boundaries of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. “This will bring the prices of diesel and petrol at par with Uttar Pradesh and increase local consumption,” said Kaushik.
In anticipation of the GST regime that will be in place in July, the Cabinet also approved one-time relaxation to businessmen in the state with pending VAT case (for the last three years). “They will be allowed to do self-assessments before the GST regime is in place so that we can start with a clean slate,” he said.
To give push to cashless transactions, the government has also decided to equip the PDS shops with PoS machines.
The Cabinet has also set up a committee, headed by Uttarakhand Finance Minister Prakash Pant, to advise the government to set up a management board on Ganga and its associate rivers.
