Online octroi payment plan gets a push

On October 4,an affidavit filed by Kumar in the High Court stated that within a few months,the entire payment system would be online. He said the new software has been developed under the guidance of experts from IIT,Bombay and using this e-portal,octroi payments can be made directly by the importer to the corporation’s account. “At present,out of the 42 octroi collection points,we had computerised systems only at the five nakas,but now we will have them at all these points,” Kumar said on Tuesday.

At present,most octroi transactions are carried out through octroi agents,who have a large presence at collection points,and help in the evasion of octroi.

BMC regularly detects cases of forged receipts and octroi not going into the civic coffers. Additional Municipal Commissioner Rajeev Jalota said the main purpose of this exercise is to eliminate the need of these intermediaries.

“Large corporates have complained that they have to engage with octroi agents due to the lack of any option. Through this system,they can directly make the payment and greatly reduce manual intervention at collection points. Importers/companies can do self-assessment and pay their octroi to the BMC. The e-payment facility will eliminate chances of importers being duped,” he said.