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NEWS ARTICLE:

Maharashtra to levy 1% cess on all construction projects

By Our Mumbai Bureau January 08, 2010

The Maharashtra state labour department will soon commence levying a 1 per cent cess on all private and public construction projects in the state to fund welfare schemes for more than 20 lakh construction labourers.

Developers will be charged one per cent of the project cost minus the land cost to work out the cess for welfare of labourers. The collected cess will go to a Welfare Board, which will work out schemes like health insurance, training and cr�ches for children of construction workers. The one per cent cess is expected to generate crores of rupees annually.

The labour department has changed procedure to collect the cess, which will be made applicable retrospectively from November 1, 2009.

The procedure also lays the responsibility of collecting the cess on authorising agencies such as the civic body, the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), the Public Works Department.

Commencement certificates for construction project will now have a unique identification number linked to the payment of the cess. The builders� lobby has not welcomed the move.