Paying octroi for your car in Mumbai

When you move to Mumbai with a car that has been registered outside Mumbai, as per the Mumbai Municipal Corporation (levy) of Octroi Rules, 1965, the car is treated as “imported” and octroi needs to be paid. Most often, the car is driven into the city and not transported in a carrier, so the payment of octroi at that time is bypassed, either wilfully or inadvertently.

The Mumbai Municipality (BMC), in a bid to recover precious octroi revenue, regularly conducts drives at apartment complexes to look out for non-Mumbai registered cars. Owners of the car parking slots where such cars are found are sent notices by BMC, asking them to pay up the octroi due for the cars parked there.

A few months after we moved to Mumbai we realised that octroi, that was payable on our car, had not been paid. This through a BMC notice.

High rise buildings: Fire equipment is not a part of “connected load”

In high rise/ multi-storied buildings, fire safety equipment and electrical equipment are closely associated. Powerful fire pumps, connected to underground fire water tanks and fire hydrants, are among the mandatory fire-safety requirements for the issue of the Fire Department’s No Objection Certificate that certify a building as fire-safe. Though connected to the electrical power supply system of a building, fire pumps are used rarely, and mostly only in the event of a fire emergency. They are also used during fire demos and drills.

Understanding electricity “loads”

When a builder applies for an electricity connection to a multi-storied building, the “sanctioned load” he/she applies for would depend on the number of units (houses/ offices/ etc.) and power ratings of the electrical infrastructure – such as common area lights, fans, air-conditioning, lifts, pumps, waste management equipment, club house, etc.

Each unit will receive its own sanction (e.g. a 2BHK may get 3kW or 4kW) and the common areas receive a separate sanction. The sanctioned load should be able to take care of all the electrical appliances/ equipment if they were all operating simultaneously. Generally the builder will not include stand-by equipment, equipment operated through change over switches and fire equipment while calculating the load.

The “connected load”, simply explained, is the actual sum of the power ratings of all the electricity-consuming devices/ power sockets that have been connected to the power supply system.