Sh Vivek Mahajan, Deputy Resident Commissioner who attended the meeting on behalf of State Government while raising issues related to the state, stressed upon the need for delegation of power to the Hill States with respect to giving approvals for diversion of forest land for non forestry and developmental activities. He said present authority of the State Government for approval upto 5 hectare was not sufficient while taking up developmental activities such as construction of roads, Hospitals, Schools that leads to considerable delay in implementation of projects of public welfare.
It was proposed that a uniform rate of taxes be levied on the tourist and other commercial vehicles plying between the member states in Northern region. Further need for information sharing between the states about the Inter State trade was also underlined so that volume of trade and consequent evaluation of taxes will be helpful in optimizing the state GST.
He said it was unanimously decided to have an institutional mechanism for co-operation in disaster management among the Northern States.
Finance Ministers of Northern Zone States and senior officers attended the meeting.