Maharashtra government placates truckers; abolishes 'Escort Fee'

The Maharashtra Government has abolished Escort Fees from August 15 onwards after repeated requests by the trucking sector in the state.

In a statement, the All India Motor Transport Congress, one of the country's largest transport bodies, said that orders had been issued by Urban Development to the Corporation to stop collection of Escorts fees in the state. The matter is pending with the Corporations of Sholapur, Dhule, Malgaon for completion of formalities, the statement said.

As reported by dna earlier, various truck industry federations like All India Motor Transport Congress and the Bombay Good Transporters Association (BGTA) had been asking the state government to abolish the 'escort fee'. 

Truck trade functionaries said that Maharashtra had failed to abolish Escort charges despite several past promises. 

What is the escort fee?
The 'escort fee' was to be paid to the local municipal authorities for services rendered by the 'escort', a man who used to accompanying a truck on behalf of local Municipal Authority to ensure that the goods entering the municipal limit is not off loaded within the municipal limit. This, truckers said, was a facet of the Octroi mechanism and now with Octroi being abolished, it was just logical that the Escort fees should be also be abolished.