Gujarat govt issues notification of Octroi abolition

The Gurarat Cabinet today issued a notification officially declaring the abolition of octroi from state's seven municipal corporations. However, no alternative has been suggested to compensate for the losses suffered by the withdrawal of octroi.

In a cabinet meeting today, the Gujarat government issued a notification which officially removes octroi from all seven municipal corporations from November 15 this year.

The state government had to bow down to protests by agitating traders in June this year. The state government had declared on June 6 that the cabinet has in principal approved the abolition of Octroi from the state from November 15 this year.

Traders had been agitating for a long time on this issue and in May this year they had threatened to intensify their agitation if the government did not take any serious steps.

The upcoming state assembly elections perhaps forced the BJP-ruled state government to accept the traders' demands. Interestingly, November 15 coincides with 'Labh Panchami.'

Political parties including the Opposition had termed the move as BJP government's last resort to please the agitating trader community and said that if the government was so dedicated towards traders' issues, they would have removed the octroi many years ago.

The Government had said that necessary instructions would be issued by Diwali. The State Government had also said that in order to compensate the loss of annual income of around Rs 1800 crore which the the seven municipal corporations are likely to suffer, it would declare an alternative soon.

During the last assembly session the government had also passed a bill to officially remove the term "octroi."

However, factions of the trader community continue to demand removal of alternate taxes as well.