After targeting more than 69 big companies for the proposed VIP treatment at octroi check-posts, the BMC now finds itself snubbed by the corporate world. Nine months after the project was launched, only one importer, Hindustan Lever Ltd, has availed itself of the Green Channel, which ensures that vehicles carrying the company’s consignments move through a dedicated lane at the Mulund-Airoli Link Road check-post.
Joint Municipal Commissioner (Improvements) V Radha admitted that the initiative, aimed at quick and efficient transactions for 69 companies that had a clean track record of payments and together accounted for Rs 1,000 crore in annual octroi collections, had failed. “We need a lot more strategy to make it successful,” she said.
That’s why, the BMC has now shifted the target from big corporates to local transporters.
“We will modify and review the whole Green Channel initiative by targeting the transporters. We will be also working out multiple cash options instead of e-payment,” Radha said.
While several industry majors including Tata Power, Reliance Energy, Bharti Airtel, Cadbury India Limited, Sony and Toyota had responded positively to the Green Channel idea, only four companies had agreed to be a part of the initiative; Siemens Communication, Godrej, Hindustan Lever Ltd and Pune-based Chitale Co. Later, however, when the much-delayed initiative was finally launched in January, only Hindustan Lever continued to make use of the facility.
“These companies, owing to their huge set-ups and numerous sister concerns, are unable to co-ordinate for the octroi e-payment. The consignments come from across the country and most of the time they are clueless about which goods are coming to Mumbai,” said an official.
Once registered with the BMC, these companies would be able to directly make online payments at the BMC portal. Importers could transfer octroi charges from their accounts via four bank — State Bank of India (SBI), Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI), Axis Bank and Union Bank of India. On producing the receipt at the check-post, their trucks can pass through the Green Channel.
Meanwhile, the civic administration will soon kickstart cashless transaction for trucks carrying construction material like stone, bricks, sand and cement by way of ‘silver cards’. Vehicle operators will have to swipe these cards at the check-posts, reducing cash payment time from 10-15 minutes per truck to 10 seconds per truck.