| "We are raising the limit of trade tax from 20 per cent to 25 per cent on petroleum products. This may increase the prices of petrol and diesel in Uttaranchal," Chief Secretary RS Tolia said after a Cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister ND Tiwari. |
| Till now the government was imposing a 20 per cent trade tax on sale of petrol and diesel and was generating Rs 200 crore for the fund but the additional five per cent tax would help the government generate Rs 30-40 crore more for the infrastructure development fund, he said. The decision would come into effect as and when notified, he added. |
| In another significant move, the Cabinet decided to exempt all taxes imposed on the spare parts of water mills. This decision is likely to benefit around 60,000 water mills in the state having capacity to produce up to 5 Kv of power. |
| The Cabinet also decided to sign a memorandum of understanding with the World Bank for a new drinking water scheme. |
| Under the Swajaldhara scheme, the World Bank would provide a Rs 500 crore loan to the state government to cover those areas, which were facing drinking water shortage, Tolia said. |
| The Cabinet also approved the e-governance scheme under which the state government would get $8.53 million from the World Bank for implementing infotech programmes. |
| Talking to reporters, Information Minister Indira Hridayesh defended the decision of taking World Bank loan saying it would not affect the Congress' ties with the Left, which was opposed to foreign funding. |
| Additional burden |
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