From now onward users must pay a groundwater tax to the Central Government. Residents of the city will now have to pay three taxes: the GMC tax, state government taxes, and new central government taxes.
The Government of India’s Ground Water Authority has issued strict guidelines for groundwater users. Groundwater users will now have to pay taxes to the central government. People will no longer have rights to groundwater now.
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The order issued by the Central Ground Water Authority of the Government of India has brought down the severe crisis. According to the central government guidelines, residential apartments, group housing societies, government water supply agencies, large quantities of water suppliers in urban areas, or domestic users will have to pay groundwater tax to the central government.
According to the new guidelines, it is mandatory to register with the relevant authority and pay the registration fee. While registering, a fine of Rs 1 lakh will be imposed. Digital piezometers must be installed and billed against the amount of water used.
Groundwater tax or Water charges must be paid according to meter readings. The deadline for completing this entire process has been set for September 30. The government water supply scheme in Guwahati only covers 30% of the population. The situation in the rest of the state is even worse, with residents forced to rely solely on groundwater for survival.
The citizens have been using groundwater at their own cost. But now the burden of additional groundwater taxes has been imposed on the Assam Ground Water Regulation and Regulation Act 2012 and municipal water tax for the use of water to the public.
The order was issued on the basis of a notification issued by the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India on September 24, 2020. P K Sharma, president of the Assam Real Estate Infrastructure Developers Association (ARIDA), also shared this information and explained who will have to pay how much tax on water.
