Ranchi, March 12 – The Jharkhand cabinet on Thursday approved several proposals, including a tax to be levied on tourists staying in hotels in urban areas and a fund of ₹276.49 crore to construct libraries in 23 districts.
The cabinet approved the Jharkhand City Tourist Tax Rules, 2025, which will require travelers staying in urban hotels to pay a tax based on the total invoice value.
A total of 40 proposals, including those related to infrastructure and education, were cleared in the cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Hemant Soren.
Cabinet Secretary Vandana Dadel told reporters, "The cabinet approved the Jharkhand City Tourist Tax Rules, 2025. Under these rules, domestic tourists will pay a 2% tax on the total invoice value for their stay in hotels that are either exempt from or not registered under GST."
For hotels where the GST rate is below 18%, the tax will be 2.5%, while for those with an 18% or higher GST rate, the tourist levy will be 5%.
For foreign tourists, the tax rates have been fixed at 4% in non-GST hotels, 5% in hotels with GST below 18%, and 10% in hotels with GST of 18% or above.
The cabinet also approved a fund of ₹276.49 crore to construct state-of-the-art libraries in 23 districts of the state.
Each library will have a seating capacity of 800, with an estimated cost of ₹12.02 crore per facility, including furniture, equipment, and books.
The cabinet also gave its approval for the implementation of the centrally sponsored Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Urban 2.0 in municipal areas across the state.
An estimated ₹22 crore was approved for establishing a driving, training, and research institute in East Singhbhum district.
The Centre will provide ₹17 crore, while Tata Motors, Jamshedpur, will contribute ₹1.82 crore, and the remaining ₹3.21 crore will be borne by the state government.
For the current fiscal, the cabinet sanctioned the establishment of four centers of excellence at BIT Sindri in Dhanbad.
These centers will be operated by the BIT Sindri Innovation and Incubation Center Foundation, with an estimated expenditure of ₹38.58 crore over five years, according to the cabinet secretary.
The council of ministers also gave the go-ahead to renaming the 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 of candidates for the upcoming Combined Civil Services Competitive Examination to be conducted by the Jharkhand Public Service Commission.
The cut-off dates have been set as August 1, 2022, for the maximum age limit and August 1, 2026, for the minimum age criterion.
In the education sector, the cabinet gave its go-ahead for over ₹48 crore for the construction of a new building for SS Memorial College, a constituent college under the Ranchi University.
Similarly, Dadel said, ₹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 ₹69.57 crore for the construction of a new Women’s College in Godda district, and ₹40.19 crore for building a degree college at Boarijore in Godda.
It also approved amendments to the 'Manki Munda Student Scholarship Scheme', which was previously 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.
The cabinet also granted administrative approval to extend the aircraft services offered by Red Bird Airways Private Ltd on a nomination basis for a period of 6 months at the same rates and conditions, while relaxing Rule 235 of the Financial Rules for the state’s VIP and VVIP government flying programme.
Incidentally, this is the same operator whose air ambulance had crashed last month, killing all seven people on board.
The air ambulance crashed near Simaria in Jharkhand’s Chatra district while en route to Delhi from Ranchi.
The accident took place shortly after the aircraft took off from Ranchi airport at 7.11 pm on February 23.
