By IANS
Ahmedabad : Octroi taxes will be abolished in Gujarat from Nov 15. The Election Commission (EC) has cleared the state government proposal for implementation.
State election commissioner Vinod Babbar announced the EC’s clearance Wednesday. He said the state government had moved a proposal about the decision and its implementation and the EC had cleared it.
Octroi will cease to be a levy in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot, Surat, Jamnagar, Bhavnagar and Junagarh from that date.
Currently, octroi revenues in the seven municipal corporations fetch nearly Rs.18 billion a year to the state exchequer and have been rising at 18 to 20 percent annually for the past five years.
With the announcement of dates for state elections and the model code of conduct coming in force, there were doubts about the implementation of the decision.
In 2001, former chief minister Keshubhai Patel had scrapped octroi duties within municipal limits of 141 smaller towns and civic areas in Gujarat.