Govt to get Rs410m as charges for underground water extraction

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The Sindh government is supposed to receive a sum of Rs409.759 million as the charges for extraction of underground water for a period of over two months from 10 companies doing the business of bottled water and cold beverages in the province.The information to this effect was passed on to the participants of a meeting on Tuesday with Sindh Chief Secretary Mumtaz Ali Shah in chair. They discussed the issue of collection of charges from the companies doing business of bottled water and beverages as per the decision of the Supreme Court on this issue.The underground water extraction charges are payable to the Sindh government for a period of 76 days from December 12, 2018.The meeting was informed that 10 big companies in the business of bottled water and beverages in Sindh have been extracting 5,390,822 litres of underground water on a daily basis.The Sindh chief secretary while chairing the meeting said that the deputy commissioner of the district concerned, the Sindh Local Government Department and the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) would collectively collect these charges for extracting underground water in the province for commercial gains.The CS also directed the officials concerned that each of the companies engaged in the business of bottled water and beverages was supposed to plant 10,000 tree saplings at suitable places and sites in the province for the upkeep of the environment. He said that the functioning of the Sindh Food Authority (SFA) was being beefed up so that it could evolve a system of checks and balances over these companies extracting underground water in the province for commercial gains.He said that a laboratory would be established at the University of Karachi for proper scientific analysis of the food samples to be collected by the SFA for checking the quality of food services and items being sold in the province.The meeting decided that the Sindh Local Government Department would prepare a draft of law, which will later be passed by the Sindh Assembly, for regulating the affairs related to taxation on extraction of underground water for commercial gains. At present, only the Balochistan government has prepared such legislation.

from The News International - Karachi https://ift.tt/2VeGh19
The News International - Karachi