The panchayat has since the past few months given a contract to Seema Enterprises to collect octroi from traders bringing in their goods. Traders have since been raising their voice against the practice and had even observed a day-long bandh on April 17.

The traders, at a meeting of the Amroli Vyapaar Mandal held at the Jain Dehrasar compound on Monday evening, decided to give the government time upto May 15 to abolish all sorts of levies including octroi, entry fee, market ferry pass and the like. The traders said in a statement that if their demands were not met, all markets in Amroli would be closed indefinitely from May 16.

They have alleged that the contract was illegal as no tenders were issued and the panchayat had unilaterally increased the octroi rates without consulting traders or inviting objections.

While Seema Enterprises has stopped collecting octroi from the past few days after the traders had called for a day-long bandh, the traders are not satisfied. They are demanding a refund from the gram panchayat of all payments made until now. They content that octroi cannot be levied on grains, which form the bulk of goods brought into Amroli by the traders.

While the Mandal has already submitted memoranda to the district collectorate, the district development officer and the development commissioner of the state in the past two weeks, no action has been taken, the leaders alleged.

The traders have, however, stated that essential items including milk, medicines and vegetables will be sold.