``We're already paying substantial amounts for petrol and registering new cars no more taxes, please,'' said WIAA President Nitin Dossa, threatening to move the courts if such a decision is implemented. Giving in to striking truckers last week, the government suspended toll collection and set up a committee to consider reduced toll rates, and a cess on fuel and newly-registered vehicles so as to be able to pay for flyovers. But though truckers have agreed to the fuel hike, motorists have not.

``A mere threat by truckers to go on strike to the city results in the government immediately bowing to them. Just because car owners don't resort to strikes and morchas, they are made to bear the burden. Why should only one section ofmotorists pay up?'' Dossa argued.

The WIAA is awaiting a reply to their letter from the transport secretary before deciding on further action. Dossa said motorists had paid Rs 4 lakh as excise and sales tax on cars costing Rs 9 lakh. An additional Rs 1.10 lakh has already been paid as a one-time vehicle tax. ``In Mumbai alone, RTOs collect Rs 2 lakh as excise and sales tax on each of the 100 cars registered daily. Where does all this money go?'' In 1994-95 alone, the Central Government collected a whopping Rs 19,734 crore from vehicle and other road related taxes, but spent only Rs 4,500 crores on infrastructure.

``We've already paid the government far in excess of what they want, and this money has simply been siphoned off elsewhere,'' said Major General G S Kapoor, Secretary General of the WIAA. He said in Japan, while the government spends Rs 125 for every Rs 100 collected from motorists, in India the amount stands at a measly Rs 25. According to Ajit Kamlani, ex-president of the association, thepetrol hike would affect two-wheeler owners the most, who consume 64 per cent of petrol sold in the city.

He said in the last decade alone, petrol prices have risen three-fold, from Rs 9.30 a litre in 1989 to Rs 28.25 a litre today. ``Petrol is now a necessity. Motorists have to pay up because there is no alternative. And for every rupee hike in petrol, 27 per cent goes to the government as sales tax.'' Dossa said the government was in such a hurry to start collecting toll, that even the placing of toll stations was flawed. Toll booths, he said, should not have been situated within city limits, but in places like Vasai and Panvel.