Amravati: In their bid to oppose octroi, (tax levied on the entry of goods into a municipality or any other specified jurisdiction for use, consumption or sale) Amravati Computers Dealers Association (ACDA) held a strike on August 10, 2009. The day long strike saw the dealers (62 members) refrain from indulging in any sort of business activity throughout the day.
The protest has been initiated by Vidharbha Chamber of Commerce and ACDA is being joined by 15 other IT associations including Akola, Aurangabad, Jalgaon and Sholapur among others. However, this is not the first time that an effort to get the tax abolished has been initiated in Maharashtra. Prior to this Trade Association of IT (TAIT) in Mumbai, Computers and Media Dealers Association (CMDA) Pune and Vidarbha Computer & Media Dealers' Welfare Association (VCMDWA) in Nagpur have already held talks, rallies and strikes to get rid of octroi in their respective regions. The reason why the above 15 associations have come together and are fighting the issue separately is in view of the fact that the challenges of the above cities are different from that of Pune, Mumbai and Nagpur.
Sharing reasons behind the strike, Prakash Purohit, President, ACDA stated, “In order to have the Octroi abolished and extend respite to the IT dealers, we observed a day long strike on August 10. If our demands are not taken into consideration we may go on an indefinite strike until octroi is fully abolished. We have informed the higher authorities and government bodies of our decision and if the matter is overlooked other cities in Maharashtra will also join us to protest the tax being levied by the state government. Currently we are assisting Vidharbha Chamber of Commerce in carrying out the strike.”
Another reason why the issue is being raised again is because the state government is now looking at hiking the octroi charges yet again, which will lead to a further hike in the prices of products.
Purohit further pointed out, “Around two years back the government had promised us that they will do away with octroi and the traders will have to pay only VAT. However the reason we have raised our concerns around abolition of octroi yet again is in view of the Vidhan Sabha election that is due on August 16. We will await a response from the concerned government bodies till August 13 and thereafter will observe an indefinite strike in case our demands are not met. We will also be joined by other trade bodies and IT associations in Maharashtra including Aurangabad, Jalgaon, Sholapur, Dombivili, Kalyan, Akola and Ambarnath among others.”
ACDA will also be holding a meet with the Amravati tax collector on August 12 in association with Vidharbha Chamber of Commerce.
Shared Sachin Palsokar, Proprietor, Sandal Enterprises, Amravati, “We have observed a day long strike on August 10 in our endeavor to get octroi abolished. We lose a lot of business due to octroi. The government had assured us that once VAT will be implemented octroi will be covered under it and there will only be a fixed percentage of tax that will be charged on us. However, the decision is yet to be implemented even as we continue to pay the octroi charges. On the other hand there are reports of a further hike in the octroi charges which will only add to our complications and create pressure since the IT dealers as it is are operating on wafer thin margins.”
Currently the octroi charges applicable on batteries has been hiked. Till now four percent octroi was applicable on the product which has now been revised to 12 and a half percent in Amravati.
Yet another dealer Rajesh Gupta of Spid Com Services opined, “We are losing out business to cities like Nagpur and Wadi due to octroi. The cost of laptops and other products goes up by three percent or consumers in Amravati. Hence they find it convenient to purchase IT relates goods from outside of Amravati resulting in us incurring heavy business losses. In Amravati there is a concept of private octroi and private companies like Konark Infrastructure collect the same from us. Besides Mahanagarpalika collects octroi from 20 other districts in Maharashtra. Several trade bodies including IT associations will be getting in touch with the relevant government bodies to get the tax abolished.
Confirming their support to ACDA in its bid to get the Octroi abolished in Maharashtra, Sanjay Agarwal, President, Aurangabad IT Association stated, “The octroi charges applicable on computers and related peripherals is four percent for Aurangabad. We have shared over 200 mails with the respective government bodies to raise our concerns but have received only false assurances. We were supposed to hold a strike on August 8 but have now postponed it to August 13 in case government fails to acknowledge our concerns.”
Aurangabad has private octroi applicable on IT related products which is collected by a private body Sakhar Agency.
Shared Gajesh Agarwal of Golden System, Akola, “We have held a protest rally in Akola and met the tax collector to voice our opinion. All the D-cities in Maharashtra are joining hands in their endeavor to get rid of octroi.”