Assam Cabinet Clears Green Cess Policy, Approves Tax Department Restructuring

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: The Assam cabinet today approved the imposition of green cess on polluting industries as announced in the annual budget.

Speaking to the media after the cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma said, "The government will levy green cess, mainly on stone crushing units, brick kilns, imported timber units, and industries identified as polluting by the pollution control board. Apart from these, the government will levy green cess on those people who extract groundwater for commercial purposes. The departments concerned will fix the rates of the cess. The government will spend the revenue from green cess in the construction of embankments, setting up solar power plants, etc."

The cabinet approved the date of Khel Maharan, starting on November 1 and closing on January 23, 2027. The Chief Minister said that the age bar for Khel Maharan is from 13 to 60 years. "The government will organise a khel maharan for under-12 children as a talent hunt exercise and training for talented ones for the future," he said.

The cabinet also relaxed the upper-age limit for ex-servicemen of Assam for state government jobs. "The upper age limit for ex-servicemen has been relaxed to 45 years from the existing 42 years. The state has a 2 per cent quota in Grade III and IV government jobs for ex-servicemen," he said.

The Chief Minister said, "To fulfil the poll promise of providing two lakh government jobs in the state in the next five years, we need to speed up the promotion of existing employees. The cabinet decided to reduce the span for the promotion of computer operators to three years from the current four years. We have also asked all government offices to make promotions of employees hassle-free."

The cabinet decided to provide bicycles to the students of Class IX and restructure the Tax Department. According to Finance Minister Jayanta Mallabaruah, the restructured Commissioner of Taxes will create 157 new statutory posts for officers and four ITO posts, increasing the overall strength from 540 to 710. The department will also reorganise operations into 11 functional zones, including the New Kamrup Zone, and adopt GST-aligned rank nomenclature. "Our focus is clear - modern institutions, greater efficiency, and a tax administration ready for the needs of a fast-growing Assam," Mallabaruah said.

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