The Pimprichinchwad civic body has earned an additional Rs500 crore from octroi and other taxes in 2010-11.
The Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA) and the Pimpri-Chinchwad Small industries Association (PCSIA) will jointly fight against the octroi hike implemented by the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC).
Senior functionaries of the two associations met recently. The MCCIA president, Arun Firodia; MCCIA executive director general, Anant Sardeshmukh; PCSIA president, Suresh Mehtre; PCSIA general secretary, Nitin Bankar; Shiv Sena MP, Gajanan Babar; and several representatives of industries were present.
Bankar told DNA, “The PCMC commissioner, Ashish Sharma, is on election duty in Kerala. He is coming back on April 20. The MCCIA and PCSIA members will meet him after that. If the civic authorities do not accept our request, we will be forced to start an agitation. We will also follow up the issue with the state government,” he added.
Small and medium scale units had proposed to keep their units closed for a day in protest. The MCCIA members advised against it as the units would suffer losses. The future course of action will be decided after meeting Sharma.
According to the entrepreneurs, two years ago, the PCMC promised to abolish octroi after value added tax was introduced. But it did not keep the promise. “We will demand that the civic body does away with octroi,” they added. Questioning the rationale for the hike in octroi, the association members said the PCMC is already meeting its target as far as garnering revenue from octroi is concerned. “So where is the need for increasing the octroi rate,” they asked.
The PCMC has hiked octroi on industrial equipment, spare parts and vehicles from 1.65% to 3%, which came into effect from April
“The hike has put nearly 7,000 small industrial units and 400 medium scale units under great financial stress. The PCMC has already earned Rs500 crore from octroi and other taxes in 2010-11. Most of the development projects are financially assisted by the central and state governments. So the PCMC should not hike octroi,” the industrialists argued.
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