HYDERABAD: Cantonment invites bids for award of contract for collection of octroi but cites problems to go ahead with the process.The Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) has invited bids for the award of contract for octroi and toll tax collection under its jurisdiction not once but four times through advertisements since June this year. But it has neither been selling applications nor announcing the schedule. “The SCB has some internal problems within its administration which is why the auction for contract of collection of octroi (a tax on various goods brought into an area) and toll tax has been postponed,” said S Balakrishna, chief executive officer of SCB. “In a month, the SCB will announce the schedule of auction and sell bid proposal forms. The octroi bid proposal form cost is ` 10,000 and toll bid form cost is `5,000,” he informed.The SCB had earlier invited bids for the fiscal year 2011-12 and five tenders were received in January. After scrutiny, the SCB authorities awarded the contract for `11 crore. As per the agreement with the contractor, the contract period would end by February 2012 , but it was cancelled in mid-July as the private contractor was collecting more than the prescribed rates of taxes and about 50 complaints were filed against them. The SCB also revised the taxes in July as the old tax structure was revised three decades ago. There are 12 check-posts under the cantonment jurisdiction and currently, the SCB is collecting taxes amounting to about Rs 45,000 per day. On an average, the SCB earns `13 lakh per month and spends `20 lakh which means a deficit of `7 lakh per month. “We are trying to bring pressure on the CEO but he is not listening to us because the board is divided into two groups,” a board member of the SCB alleged.Meanwhile, the elected ward members have been demanding the abolition of octroi and toll tax and are pressing for the introduction of entry fee. Currently, a good number of the SCB officers are on deputation for the collection of the taxes and as a result, day-to-day work like issuance of death and birth certificates and others has been hit.This is the second time that the SCB staff from crucial wings like engineering, health & sanitation and tax departments are being deputed to check-posts for the collection of taxes.
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