Civic employees union to move court against octroi abolition

Mumbai, Apr 2 (UNI) The Maharashtra Rajya Mahanagarpalika-Nagarpalika Kamgar Karmachari Sanghatana, a municipal corporation workers union, has deferred its strike but decided to move court against the government's proposal to abolish octroi.

Earlier, the ''sanghatana'' had threatened to launch a strke from the midnight of April 7.

Sanghatana convenor Sharad Rao, while speaking to reporters here today, said Sate Finance Minister Jayantrao Patil's budget speech on March 19 clearly indicates that the government is firm on abolishing octroi from the state.

Mr Rao said a ''Sanghatana'' delegation had met Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and apprised him of the revenue losses due to octroi abolition.

The delegation had provided details of octroi collection for the year 2007-08 from all the 15 'D' class municipal corporations where octroi is proposed to be abolished. The octroi collection in these civic bodies during 2007-08 was Rs 1053 crore, the delegation told the Chief Minister. However, if octroi is replaced by account-based cess, then the collection would be a mere Rs 350 crore and the government will have to reimburse the rest of the amount. Mr Rao claimed that the Chief Minister had assured that he would hold discussions with all those concerned before taking a final decision in this regard.

UNI ST MAZ SKB1614