The Bombay Goods Transport Association has called for a statewide protest from midnight after their demand to remove escort fees was not entertained by government officials
Aggrieved by the state government continuing the collection of escort fee from every truck driver entering the state, the Bombay Goods Transport Association (BGTA) has called for a statewide indefinite strike from July 15, midnight.
According to the goods transport body, even after removing octroi, escort fee is still being levied on truck drivers. Representation pic
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The decision comes in after the association was disappointed when the concerned officials of the government did not entertain their demand of removing the escort fee. According to BGTA, in the meeting held on July 13, the officials confused the matter with local body tax (LBT) and left the matter unresolved.
“Even though octroi has been removed from the state, except Mumbai, escort fee is still being levied on truck drivers, something which is not charged in any other part of the country. Therefore, we have decided to go on strike,” informed Ashok Rajguru, secretary of the association.
Over 23 lakh truck drivers are expected to join the strike from across the state, including drivers of tempos. Secretary of APMC, Vashi, Sudhir Tungar, however, said that they would not join the protest. “We have not received any official notice yet. The supply at APMC will remain unaffected, as our local transport unions will not join the protest.”
Officialspeak
“We will meet these associations who have threatened to strike and try to resolve the issue as soon as possible,” said S Sharma, the state principal secretary of transport.
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