35053668-Empire-of-the-Soul-Paul-William-Roberts

One wondered why . . .
308
EMPIRE OF THE SOUL
WE KILL . . . FOR MONEY read an ad in the same paper:
THE EXTERMINATORS pest control services
Termite (White ant) Control (Pre/Post Construction) General
Disinfestation (Cockroaches, bugs, silverfish, etc.), Rodent
Control, Carpet Moths, Powderpost Wood Beetles, Snails.
ULTRASONIC RODENT REPELLENTS
ELECTRIC FLYKILLERS
coming soon: PIGEON CONTROL
But the big story was ‘octroi.’ What exactly was octroi? I wondered.
And why had it caused a trucker’s strike?
Bombay, July 8.
‘The most junior officer at an octroi post walks away every
evening with at least Rs 250 in his pocket,’ said a trader, who has
been subjected to what he describes as the worst instance of
corruption in India.
It begins at the lowest level, where illiterate truckers are made to
pay Rs 5 to an agent to get the octroi Form B. At much higher
levels, and going into thousands of rupees, are the deals made
between agents, suppliers and the officers.
Another dealer described how he got away with paying Rs 1,000
to an agent in return for which he got a receipt saying that his
goods were rejected material and having no commercial value.
‘The octroi value of my materials was actually Rs 2 lakhs,’ he
claimed.
It seemed unlikely that any dealer would admit this to the press. I
deduced that octroi was a state tax imposed on goods coming in from
other states. The truckers were complaining about the corruption
involved in dealing with border officials, although ‘the worst instance
of corruption in India’ seemed farfetched.
Pharmacists were threatening a strike the following day, too. So
were taxi drivers and restaurateurs. I always got the feeling that I’d
never be able to get out of Bombay, once in it. But the driver who