Don’t be afraid of octroi now

In a bid to stop corruption in the city's five octroi nakas, BMC decides to centralise data and go digital

Don't be afraid of octroi now

In a bid to stop corruption in the city's five octroi nakas, BMC decides to centralise data and go digital

In a bid to reduce corruption at Octroi nakas in the city and provide relief to the people paying octroi, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is going digital. The BMC will centralise and computerise data such as the amount paid, by whom and to whom,u00a0 which, officials claim, will reduce the rampant misconduct of those deputed to collect fees at the naka. This will come into effect from August. At present, the BMC staff at the five octroi nakas in the city feed information into registers.u00a0

Officialsu00a0stop a truck to check its papers at the Mulund Octroi
naka file photo

The BMC will spend Rs 39 crore on the entire project over the next five years. Papers of every import transaction, and vehicle would be scanned at the nakas and fed into the system immediately. BMC officials do not get accurate information on the details of octroi amounts that have been levied on vehicles and packages.

The new method will allow them to gather, store and monitor data. What's more, information from all the five octroi nakas in the cityu00a0 will be available in one place, since the BMC will introduce Wide Area Network (WAN) connection in all its octroi nakas as well as 31 data collection centres.

An official from the assessment and collection department said on condition of anonymity, "At present, there is no interaction between octroi nakas. The data is fed manually after 24 hours. This way, it is difficult to keep a tab on how much money has been paid and how much should be collected by the BMC. As a result, the BMC loses revenue. Through this scheme, corruption at the lower level would be eliminated."

The octroi nakas send the information to data centres, which is then fed into the head centre in Worli. The BMC has awarded the contract to a Nagpur-based company called Vidharba Infotech Pvt Ltd. Prashant Ugemuge, a spokesperson of the company said, "There are two major benefits to this. People can pay their octroi online from anywhere in the world, and they would be given a PNR number.

Their agent can get the package from the nakas. Secondly, vigilance would be stronger. After installing the networking system, the amount collected would directly reach the Worli head office."

"If any vehicle is in the city, the vigilance department can find out how much they paid, where have they come from, and what goods were they transporting. All they need to do is take the vehicle number to the Worli head office."

"Refunds would be quicker, and no one can undervalue the cost at the check naka, as alerts would be sent through out the system," he added. BMC Standing Committee Chairperson Rahul Shewale said, "It will help a lot, as the revenue which is lost due to misconduct at the nakas would be averted and defaulters will be revealed."