MUMBAI, February 5: Additional municipal commissioner V Ramani today said that there will be a deficit of over Rs 200 crore in the recovery of octroi by the Birhanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in the current financial year. He was replying Congress corporator K A Bastiwala at the BMC's general body meeting on the proposal to make 247 temporary octroi department personnel permanent.While Bastiwala questioned the need for overloading the establishment at a time when there was a general economic crisis, Ramani said the appointments issue will have to wait. Ramani stated that since 1991 with the octroi collection procedures being simplified, city's octroi collection has risen. The BJP's Rajesh Sharma said around 1,40,000 N Forms were pending and their clearing would help increase the octroi revenue to an extent.
