Diesel price up in Himachal

Shimla :The Himachal Pradesh government has hiked Value Added Tax(VAT) on diesel by one per cent. This decision was taken Tuesday barely days after petrol VAT went up by 2 per cent in the hill state.

The raised diesel VAT is expected to bring in a revenue of Rs 26 crore per year to the fund starved state exchequer.

The cabinet also gave its nod to amend the existing schedule (Input tax restricted goods) appended to VAT rules, by inserting a new clause to prevent loss of VAT due to difference in rate of tax on the commodities in comparison to other states, a spokesman said.

The cabinet also gave nod to constitute the fifth state finance commission for one and half years and prepare its report by 30th April, 2016 covering a period of five years commencing from April, 2017.

The cabinet also gave its nod to the bid document for 37 hydro electric projects on Build Own Operate and Transfer (BOOT) basis.

It was also decided to lease out Water Sports Complex Taleru in Chamba district along-with the equipments to some private agency.

Nod was given to amend rule 9 of the state passenger goods taxation rule to streamline the passenger tax collection in the state.