Mumbai: As the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rolls out on July 1, the land belonging to the octroi nakas, which will become redundant, is much in demand from various sources. The passengers’ bus association has demanded it be allotted to set up bus terminals to park their buses.
In a letter to the state urban development (UD) department, the Mumbai Bus Malak Sanghatana (MBMS) has demanded that octroi naka land, if given, would solve their parking problems to a large extent. The UD department has asked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to think about the proposal.
The letter says, “After the implementation of GST, the octroi nakas in the city will shut down and their land will become vacant. It should be made available to private bus transporters to set up a terminal to park their vehicles.”
KV Shetty, general secretary, MBMS, said, “Barring Wadala, there is not a single parking facility available for private buses. In Wadala too, there are only 130 slots, most of which are used by goods trucks. It is also inconvenient as we have to bring back our buses into the city for parking, braving heavy traffic. Since octroi nakas are located at the city’s boundaries, they will prove to be ideal parking lots for us.”
According to MBMS officials, there are 6,500 private bus owners, who are involved in passenger transport. They ply their buses for transportation of tourists, employees, and schools, as well as for inter-city and inter-state transport. “Due to lack of parking space, we have to park our buses on roads, which raise questions about their safety.
According to the Maharashtra Motor Vehi-cle Act, the local body has to provide us a parking space, as we are paying tax to the state. However, our demands have fallen on deaf ears so far,” said Mr Shetty.
The BMC has five octroi nakas in the city — Eastern Express Highway (Mulund), LBS Marg (Mulund), Western Exp-ress Highway (Dahisar),
Mumbai-Panvel Highway (Vashi) and Mulund-Airoli Link Road, (Airoli).
The octroi is the biggest source of revenue for the BMC. With collections amounting to more than '7,000 crore, it contribute 40 percent to the civic body’s annual income.
“We are thinking about how to use the octroi naka lands. However, we have not come to any conclusion so far,” said Sanjog Kabre, assistant municipal commissioner (assessment and collection).
OCTROI NAKAS IN THE CITY
- Eastern Express Highway(Mulund)
- LBS Marg (Mulund)
- Western Express Highway (Dahisar)
- Mumbai-Panvel Highway (Vashi)
- Mulund-Airoli Link Road, (Airoli)
