750 industrial polluters shortlisted to pay green tax as penalty

A total of 750 industries have been short-listed, from among 2,500 selected earlier, to be penalized with green tax for polluting the environment through spewing untreated exhausts.
The government authorities have trimmed the preliminary list of the number of industries for imposition of green tax after the lapse of five months of the current fiscal year (FY) for dilemmas.
Only polluting industries will be brought under the new tax while companies or organisations may be exempted in the first phase, officials said.
The green+ tax was scheduled to come into force from July 1, 2014, but a lingering process held it back.
The government introduced this tax for the first time in the budget for fiscal year (FY) 2014-15.  
As per law, polluting companies have to pay one-percent surcharge on the prices of their goods.
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has yet to start collecting the non-tax revenue although the first half of the FY is about to go by.
A senior tax official said they were waiting for the final list from the department of environment (DoE) to publish a gazette with the names of the selected industries.   
"Initially names of polluting companies will not be included in the list as the relevant law does not specify it for companies," he said.
With the provisions of the existing law, the government may be forced to exclude the polluting companies like brickfields, polluting hospitals and other companies that are not defined as industry.
Imposition of the green tax needs coordination between the Value Added Tax (VAT) wing of the NBR and the DoE.
VAT officials said the process would not drag on after getting final list from the DoE with the names of industries.
Some blamed a snail's pace of the authorities concerned as an influential group of people is lobbying for exclusion of their industries from the list.
Earlier, the DoE compiled the names of some 2,500 companies and industries that have faced penal action so far for violating the Environment Conservation Act1995.
The industries have polluted environs by not installing Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) and through other ways.
The industries include tanneries, washing and dyeing plants of garments, brickfields, auto-rice mills, chemical factories, and ship breaking.
After issuance of the gazette, the names of the industries will be updated after a certain period of time.
Names of the industries will be de-listed on their becoming compliant while new non-compliant ones included.
The VAT wing would collect the 1.0 per cent surcharge under the 'Environment Protection Surcharge Collection Rules 2014'. The amount of surcharge would be non-tax revenue that the government will spend on protection of the environment.
doulot_akter@yahoo.com