Ranchi, Mar 12 (PTI) The Jharkhand cabinet on Thursday approved several proposals, including a tax to be levied on tourists staying at hotels in urban areas and a Rs 276.49 crore fund to construct libraries in 23 districts.

The council of ministers green-lighted the Jharkhand City Tourist Tax Rules, 2025, under which travellers staying in urban hotels will be required to pay a tax calculated on the total invoice value.

A total of 40 proposals, including those of infrastructure and education, were cleared in the cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Hemant Soren.

"The cabinet approved the Jharkhand City Tourist Tax Rules, 2025. Under the rules, domestic tourists will pay a 2 per cent tax on the total invoice value for their stay in hotels that are either exempt from or not registered under GST," Cabinet Secretary Vandana Dadel told reporters.

For hotels where the GST rate is below 18 per cent, the tax will be 2.5 per cent, while for those in which the GST rate is 18 per cent or more, the tourist levy will be 5 per cent.

"For foreign tourists, the tax rates have been fixed at 4 per cent in non-GST hotels, 5 per cent in hotels with GST below 18 per cent, and 10 per cent in hotels with GST of 18 per cent or above," she said.

The approval was also granted for a Rs 276.49 crore fund to construct state-of-the-art libraries in 23 districts of the state, she said.

Each library will have a seating capacity of 800, with an estimated cost of Rs 12.02 crore per facility, including furniture, equipment, and books.

The cabinet also gave its nod to the implementation of the centrally sponsored Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Urban 2.0 in municipal areas across the state.

An estimated Rs 22 crore was approved for establishing an institute of driving, training and research in East Singhbhum district.

Of this, the Centre will provide Rs 17 crore, while Tata Motors, Jamshedpur, will contribute Rs 1.82 crore, and the remaining Rs 3.21 crore will be borne by the state government, she said.

For the current fiscal, the cabinet sanctioned the establishment of four centres of excellence at BIT Sindri in Dhanbad.

These centres will be operated by the BIT Sindri Innovation and Incubation Center Foundation, with an estimated expenditure of Rs 38.58 crore over five years, the cabinet secretary said.

The council of ministers also gave its go-ahead to the renaming of Daltonganj Railway Station as Medininagar Railway Station in Palamu district.

The Centre has already granted its no-objection certificate for the change.

Dadel said that approval was also granted to determine the cut-off dates for calculating the minimum and maximum age limits for the upcoming Combined Civil Services Competitive Examination to be conducted by the Jharkhand Public Service Commission.

The cutoff dates have been set as August 1, 2022, for the maximum age limit and August 1, 2026, for the minimum age limit.

In the education sector, the cabinet approved over Rs 48 crore for the construction of a new building for SS Memorial College, a constituent college under the Ranchi University.

Similarly, Dadel said, Rs 88.92 crore was sanctioned for constructing a new building for Jawaharlal Nehru College, Chakradharpur, a constituent college under the Kolhan University.

Under the Sidhu Kanhu Murmu University, the cabinet cleared Rs 69.57 crore for the construction of a new Women’s College in Godda district, and Rs 40.19 crore for building a degree college at Boarijore in Godda.

It also green-lighted amendments to the 'Manki Munda Student Scholarship Scheme', earlier limited to students of technical institutions affiliated with the Jharkhand University of Technology.

The scheme will now extend benefits to female students pursuing technical education in other institutions as well. The application process has also been simplified. PTI RPS NAM BDC