[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by mmmjgm

FYI - if a notification/law has been passed, there would be no way you can refuse paying these charges.
Regards
M

How can a state government pass a notification or law pertaining to a National Highway? I agree they can do it for a state highway.

[SS-Traveller]

I've also faced this demand for Rs.800 entry tax, as mentioned in my travelogue earlier.

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

Watch out for corrupt RTO officials at the Bengal-Orissa border on the NH-60. They'll stop your private vehicle and first demand to see all papers. Then they'll tell you that Orissa is levying an entry tax of Rs.800 (as I was told), even for non-commercial vehicles entering the state. The amount is bargainable, or as I did, you can call their bluff and just drive through. They'll repeat the trick on your way out of the state too, but are satisfied if you tell them you paid when entering Orissa yesterday.

This is an unjustified tax alright, and the MVD folks are also amenable to reducing the tax when you bargain.

Could someone please post a scanned copy of the receipt for Rs.800? I think that receipt is not an official document either - it's fabricated by those people to look official.

[thebagchi]

If State Govt would have had passed some notification, then there would be a mention of it Newspapers
At the Border there is not Supporting document.
no newspaper cutting.
Not even a rubber stamp.

How could anyone believe it

since 1995 Road Tax is computed on Ex Showroom price of the vehicle and not on the Weight of the Vehicle.
The document they show measures Road Tax based on weight of the vehicle.
that law has been amended.

[MileCruncher]

I know what you are saying as some thing similar happened to me as well about 100 kms outside Nagpur on my Delhi - Hyderabad trip. Since it was a single cop and I had all the papers, I stood my ground and started abusing him loudly saying that he a corrupt SOB. Seeing me the other locals also gheraoed him and I felt that everyone was looking for a chance to hit him. So I didn't succumb to this mafia and corrupt practice.

But a lot of people who either don't know the law or just don't want a bad scene quietly pay up.

The corrupt officials should black and blue.

[Captdey]

Definitely it's just case of another corrupt Govt. official, if there was any legal
tax then it should have levied on all X-broder check post throughout orissa,
why its only in Jaleswar. Though I have not paid personally this tax any time but
next time I may not be lucky.

Lets act Now! , firstly we have to find out whether really this is a govt. order
or a fake, I believe our nearest first point of contact should be "Resident
Commissioner " of Orissa Govt. at Utkal Bhawan , kolkata.
try to communicate with AAEI , let's listen their version too.

I will be in kolkata from 9th April onwards , lets have a meet over this topic.

Cheers

[maheshmenon]

Hi,

Sorry to join in so late! I just finished the Chennai - Kolkata GQ trip a couple of months back. (actually Chennai-Kolkata-Jamshedpur-Patna-Chennai).

On the up route, we crossed the border into WB at about 2am!! Fortunately I didn't experience this although my vehicle was KA registered. I do remember that we were flagged down at Jharpokaria at a check post by a guy in civils, never bothered to stop / slow down though, we were warned about some unscrupulous elements any way.

I don't know if this will help,but I just got a mail on my office network,appending it below hope this brings some solace

PS @ ADC: Maybe I'll knock on your door the next trip

Cheers
Mahesh

--------

Dear Friends,

Government of India has an on-line Grievance forum at Grievance Redress Mechanism in Government

Can you imagine this is happening in INDIA?

The govt. wants people to use this tool to highlight the problems they faced while dealing with Government officials or departments like Passport Office, Electricity board, BSNL/MTNL, Railways etc.

I know many people will say that these things don't work in India, but this actually works.The guy I'm talking about lives in Faridabad. Couple of months back, the Faridabad Municipal Corporation laid new roads in his area and the residents were very happy about it. But 2 weeks later, BSNL dug up the newly laid roads to install new cables which annoyed all the residents including this guy. But it was only this guy! Who used the above listed grievance forum to highlight his concern. And to his surprise, BSNL and Municipal Corporation of Faridabad were served a show cause notice and the guy received a copy of the notice in one week. Government has asked the MC and BSNL about the goof up as it's clear that both the government departments were not in sync at all.

So use this grievance forum and educate others who don't know about this facility. This way we can at least raise our concerns instead of just talking about the ' System ' in India.

Invite your friends to contribute for many such happenings.

PLEASE SPREAD THIS MESSAGE IF U WANT OUR INDIA TO HAVE A BETTER TOMORROW & FORWARD THIS MAIL TO AS MANY AS POSSIBLE.

-----

[dadu]

Originally Posted by Captdey

Definitely it's just case of another corrupt Govt. official, if there was any legal
tax then it should have levied on all X-broder check post throughout orissa,
why its only in Jaleswar. Though I have not paid personally this tax any time but
next time I may not be lucky.

Lets act Now! , firstly we have to find out whether really this is a govt. order
or a fake, I believe our nearest first point of contact should be "Resident
Commissioner " of Orissa Govt. at Utkal Bhawan , kolkata.
try to communicate with AAEI , let's listen their version too.

I will be in kolkata from 9th April onwards , lets have a meet over this topic.

Cheers

There is no need to go anywhere. Use the RTI act to your benefit.

You can send a self enveloped letter to the RTO and seek information on this tax. They will reply to you with the details.

If they are fake, take the copy of that RTI reply and drive down with few fellow bhpians and confront that person, hand him over to the nearest PS.

[9tMax]

I just finished my Hyd - Kol - Hyd trip a couple of days back with my AP registered car. Luckily I was never stopped anywhere both while going or while coming - though I was fully prepared with the printouts of the central motor vehicle act, which clearly says that other state registered vehicles need not re-register for stays less than one year.
While going to Kolkata I crossed the WB-OR border @ 20:45 and while coming we crossed it @ 08:30.

[Captdey]

9tMax -

Good to hear that ,
Could you please Pm / Email me the scan / PDF copy
of Same pages of Motor Vehicle Act for my future
reference.

Thanks

[venuraja]

At sholapur ,there is right turn to go to Shirdi . Here you have very corrupt Sholapur police , may be only a head constable and a constable who harass AP registered vehicle.
Half of the devotees of Shirdi are telugu people. One of the first few temples constructed after the death of Shirdi Saibaba were constructed in AP.
So you can imagine how many vehicles must be going via sholapur ,ahmednagar to Shirdi.
Here

[venuraja]

At Sholapur ,on the highway,there is a right turn to go to Shirdi . Here you have very corrupt Sholapur police , may be sometiems,only a head constable and a constable who harass AP registered vehicles.
Half of the devotees of Shirdi are Telugu people. One of the first few temples constructed after the death of Shirdi Saibaba were constructed in AP.
So you can imagine how many vehicles must be going via Sholapur ,Ahmednagar to Shirdi.

Here the Sholapur police loot the hapless piligrims on one or other pretext.

In one such occassion my friend ,tipped these corrupt people by paying Rs.300 because his pollutuon check certificate for the vehicle expired by 5 days.
Sholapur police said he had to pay 1000 rs fine,according to Maharastra rules.(which was a lie) . So he paid 300 rs tip.

Next time when I went in my Indica v2 , I took the route via Tuljapur
to have darshan of Tulja bhavani.

Hyderabad, >Tuljapur,> Ahmednagar,> Shirdi is yet another horror story.

In 2008 , it was , when I faced horrible roads after Tuljapur. Tuljapur Bhavani mandir,is good temple to visit but after that the roads were in a very bad condition. They were so horrible that I was afraid that my car's axle rod miught be broken in to pieces. what happened was that my indica cars wheel rims were bent. Thank God that the tires did not come out.
Indica car wheel rims (to hold the tyres) are definetely very weak.
In any case one good thing is that nobody bothers in these roads , and traffic is very ,very less.
But most important advantage is that , you would sure to avoid the gang of Sholapur police who were extracting mamools there at Sholapur cross roads.

From Hyderabad to Shiridi it is 650 km and nowhere you would have any problem. And in the dhabas in Ahmadnagar area , you would get very tasty food.

[delix]

Originally Posted by Captdey

Yesterday I read another email from a person who was victimised while
on way to Kolkata at this point. He was charged Rs.800/- as a
Road tax for next 6 Months , this is absolutely crap.

Let's do a mini TBHP meet at Kolkata and discuss a course of action
involving Media, Resident commissioner of Orissa Govt. at Utkal Bhawan,
Kolkata and also the AAEI (automobile association of eastern india).

In the meantime try to highlight this issue whatever way you can.

Thanks ADC and Shuvd for your responses.

Cheers

Hi, i was a bit curious about the meeting that you guys had planned at the Utkal Bhawan (kolkata). I am asking this because on 2nd april i am planning a trip to Puri in my new Ritz. I have heard of this tax being extorted from non Orissa registered vehicles.. I am not ready to pay Rs 800 for a 4 day visit if this is an illegal tax that the corrupt officials are charging..

[hvkumar]

This extortion happens routinely near Jaleshwar during the day time. All those who have passed that point in recent times have been stopped. A friend who drove by recently was dressed in army fatigues and challenged them, they simply crumbled and waved him on. Such threatening postures are the only way to get your way. Ask for the notification. Take the relevant MV Act provision along. Carry proof of your status as a passerby (petrol bills, toll tickets, etc), etc. That is the only way to beta this problem, this is a big racket in Orissa. They do this near Baharogara/Jamsola too. Any presswalas in our midst, please expose this racket, one way of tackling it.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by delix

...i am planning a trip to Puri in my new Ritz. I have heard of this tax being extorted from non Orissa registered vehicles.. I am not ready to pay Rs 800 for a 4 day visit if this is an illegal tax that the corrupt officials are charging..

An easy way of bypassing the checkpost at Jaleshwar would be to follow this route on the way out. I understand that no tax issues exist on this route when crossing over from WB to OR.

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

I wonder if these two issues can be bypassed by using the Kolaghat-Contai-Digha-Jaleshwar route. Is the Orissa RTO as active on WB-OR border along the state highway that this route takes?

[Ranjan Sharma]

Originally Posted by Spitfire

You were right in standing your ground. Hope more people resist such unscruplous people.

Another border crossing which is notorious is the Karnataka - Goa border when you enter from Karnataka side. The officials there are the most cheapest of human beings i have ever seen or met. They are the downright third grade government officials, corrupt to the core. And what is alarming is everyone knows about it but no one does anything. I had to go through a horrifying ordeal there. I am a Goan with a KA registered vehicle crossing over to Goa. I had to call some contacts in from Goa side to sort things out.

We called some higher ups connected to the police and excise checkpost there and found out that local ministers, high level officiers and police officiers were all involved. Apparently they earn crores in a year due to this corruption. And it continues till today.

I totally agree. The Cops on the border of Goa side are very good, but moment you reach the cops on the Karnataka side, they start with their cheap stuff.

Earlier the cop demanded money, I refused to give. This guy wasted almost 1 hours of my time, and when he realised he would get nothing from me, he started pleading me for money for Nashta,chai. Finally I gave him 20Rs assuming him a beggar.

Shocking scene was, he didn't stop Goa registered cars, and other regular visitors, were just handing over some Chutta and moving on. Looked like Hafta wasooli