The cabinet today agreed to amend the Meghalaya Minerals Cess Act 1988 and brought 14 additional items, including iron ore, building stones, granite, boulders, ordinary sand, clay, earth, gravel, slate and shale, among others, under its ambit.
Cess will now be imposed on these items and the generated revenue will be directed towards health, water supply, physical infrastructure and education, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said.
“We expect an addition of Rs 40-50 crore more to come in with the change,” he said.
The state received a cess amount of around Rs 48 crore in 2018-2019 and this increased to Rs 73 crore in 2019-2020.
It has also proposed that a levy and collection of tax from persons who extract minerals from any land, mine or quarry will also be charged, he added.
The cabinet has also approved the exemption of stamp duty fees that are to be charged on the Emergency Credit Card Guarantee Scheme and PMSVANIDHI Scheme.
“The exemption will allow the small time loan takers to easily avail this and they will not have to register or pay stamp duty on this particular scheme and this is being done throughout the country,” Sangma said.
