Although the civic body gave free entry to all goods vehicles entering after the stroke of midnight, they had hundreds of vehicles, which had already entered the city, waiting to pay octroi.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Saturday had a tough time dealing with around 300 trucks that had entered Mumbai before midnight on June 30, but whose turn to pay Octroi at the city's five octroi check-posts arrived only after 12 am due to long queues. The drivers of these goods carriers refused to pay octroi, citing the scrapping of octroi and implementation of GST from midnight.
Although the civic body gave free entry to all goods vehicles entering after the stroke of midnight, they had hundreds of vehicles, which had already entered the city, waiting to pay octroi.
From April 1 till June 30, 2017, BMC has collected a total of Rs 1,863 crore octroi from its five check-posts. While on Saturday BMC collected around Rs 2 crore of octroi from the vehicles which had entered the city before Friday midnight when octroi was applicable.
Mumbai has five check-posts, at Mankhurd, Dahisar, Airoli and two at Mulund, where BMC used to collect octroi from the vehicles entering the city carrying goods. Each of these check-posts, except Airoli, used to collect octroi from around 2,000 to 2,500 vehicles on a daily basis. There is usually a long line of vehicles waiting at the check-post to pay octroi due to the heavy rush of such goods carriers.
The number of vehicles waiting after the GST rollout was around 150 at Mankhurd check- post, 50 at Dahisar, 40 at Mulund (LBS road), and 25 at Eastern Express Highway (Mulund), said Assessor and Collector of BMC, Sanjog Kabare. There were no queues at Airoli, the official said.
"Immediately from midnight, officials at the check-posts gave free entry to all goods carriers. However, we had to collect octroi from the vehicles which had already entered the city prior to 12 am. The drivers and carriers were not ready to pay, as they said GST was applicable. They were giving reasons like they are not carrying enough cash to make payments. However, we are clearing the check-posts as soon as possible," Kabare added.
The goods carriers created a ruckus at Dahisar and Mankhurd check-posts, after which the police were called to manage the crowd.
A civic officer said, "In Mankhurd, the angry crowd, including the octroi agents and truck drivers threw eggs on civic staff and continued abusing, following which Mankhurd police were called."
BMC compensation
With the scrapping of octroi, the state government will compensate the BMC with Rs 650 crore as its first instalment.
Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar confirmed the decision and the amount will be handed over by July 5.
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