The Konark Infrastructure Private Limited and Kalginder Construction Company have, in their bids, promised the UMC minimum collections of Rs 17.19 crore and Rs 16.55 crore respectively between September 16 to March 31, 1999.

Earlier, the UMC would manage to tog up Rs 4.50 lakh per day from octroi. Now, the firm which wins the bid will rake in collections averaging Rs 9.86 lakh a day.

For the severely cash-strapped UMC, whose huge outstandings include Rs 54 crore to be paid to the MIDC, this is perceived as godsend. A senior official of the octroi department revealed that poor collections were primarily because of rampant evasion.

``Everybody from the police, the local press and corporators are in the know about this racket, but everybody gets a share of the booty and prefers to keep quiet,'' he charged. ``With almost 100 percent evasion, the UMC is beingbled dry,'' he added.

Corporators, who had earlier questioned the UMC's decision to privatise octroi, are now reportedly huddled in meetings to find a way out.

``Businessmen on whom we depend for funds are breathing down our necks to stall this move, but it's too late now,'' remarked one of them.

``Corporators should have known that they were taking a chance on this issue before agreeing to the UMC's proposal in the standing committee meeting on AUgust 19,'' he added.

Mayor Yashaswini Naik (Shiv Sena) told Express Newsline that privatisation would pave a way out of the financial mess the corporation is in. She admitted that the fact that the UMC was privatising octroi `proved that all was not well with the earlier system.'

The commissioner refused to comment.

An official at the octroi naka added that an organised system was in place wherein operators actually controlled routes on which consignments were picked or dropped. ``The party which hires them pays them a sum which is less than thatthey would have to cough up as octroi at the naka of whichever municipal limits the vehicle crosses,'' he revealed.

Recently, an Ulhasnagar Camp 1 resident, Hoshu Jethanand Lund alias Pappu Sindhi (42), was caught red-handed for his alleged involvement in octroi evasion within the neighboring KDMC limits.