Environment/ Uttarakhand’s Tax
34 July 22, 2019FTER being complicit in
allowing the picturesque
Auli to be turned into a
garbage dump by Ajay
and Atul Gupta, South
Africa-based controver-
sial businessmen brothers, the Uttara -
khand government and its Pollution
Control Board have awakened to the
increasing pollution in the hill state.
Not only did the state government
allow the famous ski resort to be used
for a wedding hosted by the Gupta bro -
thers, Chief Minister Triven dra Singh
Rawat, yoga guru-turned-businessman
Ramdev and some Bolly wood stars were
among the VIP guests. The weddings of
Suryakant and Shash ank, sons of Ajay
and Atul, were held over June 18-22.
Ironically, Uttarakhand now propos-
es to impose a “green tax” on pilgrims,
sports lovers and celebratory events.
The issue was raised by the state’s
Pollu tion Control Board at a meeting
with Harak Singh Rawat, the minister
for environment and forest. The tax to
be imposed on tourists will be decided
by urban local bodies of different dis-
tricts which will use the revenue thus
earned to improve and protect the
environment.
Member-secretary of the Uttara -
khand Pollution Control Board SPSubudhi, however, denied that “green
tax” was discussed at the meeting. “Un -
der the Solid Waste Management Rules,
local and municipal bodies are empow-
ered to levy a fee for collection of solid
waste under the “polluters pay” policy.
As tourists are known to litter garbage,
they will be charged by the civic bodies
of different districts. This was the point
em pha sised at the meeting,” he said.
The high influx of tourists, including
those visiting the Char Dham, is said to
be damaging the region’s ecology, prom -
p ting officials to take up the issue with
the tourism minister. A report of the
Asso ciated Chambers of Commerce and
In dustry placed the number of domestic
tourists visiting the hill state in 2015 at
2.25 crores. Over one lakh foreign tou -
rists visited Uttarakhand during the
same period.
There is no word yet on how much
levy will be charged. Will it be a uniform
tax, higher for pilgrims and those visit-
ing reserve forests and lower for trek -
kers and mountaineers? Will the highest
slab be reserved for celebrations likeweddings? It is also not known if a tou -
rist will be taxed multiple times by the
Kumaon and Garhwal districts if he vis-
its both places, besides the revered
Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and
Yamunotri pilgrimage sites.
Although the argument in favour of
green tax may be strong given the high
tourist influx, proper implementation of
the proposal may not be easy. For ins -
tance, the government’s earlier plan to
register pilgrims going to Kedarnath has
been a flop, with only those going on
ponies or helicopters being registered.
Those trekking go unregistered. Going
by the estimated daily footfall of 20,000
-25,000 at the shrine against its capaci-
ty of less than 5,000, the number of un -
registered pilgrims could be fairly high.
Awareness dawned on the Pollu tion
Control Board following widespread
criticism in the wake of over 30,000
kilos of waste left behind by the Guptas,Seeing Red over Green Tax
Though the state government
proposes to impose a levy on
pilgrims, sports lovers and
celebratory events to get
revenue to protect the
environment, its sincerity is
being questioned
By Atul Chandra
in Lucknow
A
ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER
The Gupta weddings in Auli had left over 220
quintals of waste and garbage to be clearedtwitter.com/ANI