Odisha wants green dividend for forest cover upkeep

The state government has sought green dividend from the Centre for maintaining its forest cover that is higher than the national average.

Odisha feels that the Centre should provide green dividend to all states whose forest area exceeds the pan-India average.

"Forest cover in Odisha is 38 per cent of its total geographical area, higher than the national average of 21 per cent. States whose forest cover is higher than the national average, should be given green dividend for maintaining forest land and preventing it from degradation," said U N Behera, additional chief secretary (finance).

Citing that the Centre is levying a cess of Rs 100 a tonne on coal mines in coal bearing states, Behera pointed out that Odisha needs similar non-rebatable green cess on minerals extracted in the state.

At a recent meet of the empowered committee of state finance ministers on GST (Goods & Service Tax) roll out, the state government had reiterated its demand for imposition of a green cess on the sale of minerals. Though Odisha is a mineral rich state, a major share of minerals are either sold for consumption in other states or used in production of goods which are sold to other states.

Under GST, the destination principle applies and the mineral producing state where pollution may be localised does not get any part of the revenue. It is only the consuming state that gets the tax revenue whereas the pollution is suffered by the citizens of the producing state.

Behera stressed on fiscal incentives for low carbon development and low carbon refund scheme for the power sector. In May this year, the state government formed five committees to develop fiscal instruments for promoting low carbon development in the state. The key deliverables of the committees include a report on the areas of implementation, a report on existing policies of the state government that would affect implementation of identified instruments and an implementation action plan for each recommendation.

The committees are also required to furnish a note on capacity building needs and on funding requirements and utilisation of available funds. Among the five committees, one will be on low carbon refund scheme for power sector to be chaired by principal secretary (energy).

The other four committees would be on low carbon refund scheme for industries, incentive for waste heat recovery, incentive for buildings and incentive for waste sector.