Shimla, Aug. 28 -- The Himachal Pradesh government is currently levying ten different cesses, through which more than Rs 762.13 crore has been collected so far.
Of these, five were imposed by the previous government, while the present government has introduced an additional five, Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri informed the Assembly on Thursday in reply to a question raised by MLA Bikram Thakur.
Agnihotri clarified that cess collections are spent only for the purposes for which they are levied. To ensure transparency and timely utilisation, the government is preparing a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that will allow departments to directly use cess funds. At present, the money is deposited with the Finance Department, which can...