Bengaluru: “As Karnataka is already considered a highly taxed state, we are not in a position to impose additional cess to raise money for the implementation of Swachh Bharat Scheme”, said CM Siddaramaiah, here on Wednesday.
Participating in Niti Ayog’s sub-committee meeting on Swachh Bharat, the CM said that whatever money is required for the scheme, the Centre can raise it by imposing additional tax as per its convenience.
He also added that, of the total funding for the scheme, 90 per cent should be borne by the Centre while the remaining 10 per cent should be shared by the State government.
“The per unit cost for a community toilet may be increased to Rs 20 lakh as construction costs have changed. Tax incentives on recycled material, energy from waste, recycled water and compost may be considered for viability”.
“Accessing funds and creating an institutional framework which enables optimal utilisation of these funds is an important need. Funds from corporates under Corporate Social Responsibility and other external sources need to be routed through a State-level Swachh Bharat Kosh or Cell,” he said.
“Given also the vast scale of work in the sanitation programme, including construction of community toilets and addressing solid and liquid waste problems, Karnataka has proposed a Procurement Support Cell to be established at the State-level to extend the required technical information and its dissemination to relevant stakeholders,” he added.
No cabinet expansion till November
The much-awaited expansion of the cabinet is likely to be put off at least till early November.
Speaking to the media CM said “How can anyone fix dates for carrying out that (cabinet) exercise? Only after I landed here, I came to know that Congress vice president, Rahul Gandhi, has left for the US, while general secretary, Digvijay Singh, is yet to arrive from the US. Therefore, I have not held talks with anyone about the exercise. So, how can I fix the dates now?”
He said that he arrived in New Delhi with an intention to discuss the issue with central leaders but could not do so because of the absence of leaders concerned in Delhi.
