The Times of India  02.11.2010

Record octroi recovery by NMC

NAGPUR: It's not Diwali yet, but personnel of Nagpur Municipal Corporation octroi department are smiling. They have collected a record Rs 35.54 crore octroi during October including fines of Rs 68.12 lakh from octroi evaders. Some of it is due to improved buying as slowdown has lifted. It is also because of steps initiated by octroi committee chairman Balya Borkar and the officials of octroi department to check octroi evasion.

The department has decided to deploy 10 cops headed by a sub inspector at each octroi post along with NMC's own security personnel. They would not only give security cover to the employees but also check evasion, Borkar told TOI. The average turnover of all 13 check posts is between Rs 80 lakh and Rs 90 lakh per day. This amounts to about Rs 20 crore a month.

During October, department had targeted a revenue of Rs 25 crore as buying is more during festival time. But having collected Rs 20 crore in just 15 days, NMC was hopeful of crossing Rs 30 crore in entire month. Borkar said, "at the end of the month, for the first time, we recovered Rs 35.54 crore, Rs 10.25 crore more than last year's recovery. Last year, NMC had collected Rs 25.29 crore in the month before Diwali.

Borkar informed that for the first time, department recovered fine of Rs 68.12 lakh from the octroi evaders after several raids conducted over the month. The fine is also Rs 28.88 lakh more than that recovered last year. He said, "In general, traders keep stocks of electronic goods, dry fruits and garments and crackers etc for the festival season at godowns outside the city. The season is also marked by more evasion attempts by unscrupulous businessmen. To prevent that, we intensified vigilance at 36 checkpoints on the outskirts of city and appointed 10 flying squads at 13 main octroi posts.

From Railway station octroi post (Naka No 12 A and B) the octroi department had recovered Rs 1.97 crore during April to October last year. Due to appointment of 24-hours flying squad at the three exit gates and two inspectors inside station premises, this year department recovered Rs 3.55 crore in the same period. Of this, this Rs 1 crore was recovered in October alone, Borkar added.

Till date, department has collected a revenue of Rs 199.57 crore an increase of Rs 38.15 crore and hoped to cross the target of Rs 375 crore set by NMC standing committee for the financial year. Last year, NMC had collected Rs 161.42 crore from octroi in this period.