Octroi from cigarettes up

PUNE, July 27: The Pune municipal administration has successfully prevented local dealers in leading brands of cigarettes from continuing to indulge in large-scale octroi evasion, according to additional municipal commissioner Deepak Kapoor.

Kapoor said the PMC’s drive has led to the octroi collection on cigarettes shooting up to Rs. 1.28 crore between August 1997 till date as against Rs. 2.28 lakh during the same period in 1996-97. Major cigarette dealers had opened permanent accounts with the PMC and were making advance payments for likely octroi dues, he added.