Nashik, June 10 (KNN) Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) announced the rollback of the fire cess for industries located in the Ambad industrial estate in Nashik, effective from April 1.

J C Borse, executive engineer (Nashik region), MIDC, told TOI that MIDC has rolled back the fire cess. 

“We have given a letter in this regard to the industrial association. Moreover, the fire station of the MIDC in Ambad will also be handed over to the NMC administration shortly,” he said.

A decision in this regard was taken by Santosh Warick, the chief fire officer of the MIDC, during a meeting with MIDC officers and representatives of industries recently. 

Earlier, only the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) would recover fire cess from industries in Ambad MIDC area. But after construction of the new fire station in Ambad, the MIDC also started levying fire cess on over 2,500 industries in Ambad from April 2019.

The industries had opposed double imposition of cess and sought a roll back of the MIDC cess. While the NMC administration would charge a fire cess of Rs 31 paisa per sq metre, the MIDC’s fire cess rate was Rs 4.54 per sq metre. 

The industries were opposing the fire cess for the past 2-3 years, saying it was not possible for them to pay the fire cess to both the authorities.

The industries had also pursued the issue with the industrial department of the state government.

State industry minister Uday Samant during a meeting in Nashik around six months back had directed the MIDC to roll back the fire cess. However, the industries will have to pay the fire cess dues till March 31, 2023.

Nikhil Panchal, president, AIMA, said, “It is really a positive development that the MIDC has finally rolled back the fire cess. The MIDC’s fire cess charges were 15 times more than the NMC’s. Hence, it was not affordable for us to pay fire cess to the MIDC. We had been pursuing the issue for many months.”  (KNN Bureau)