The committee, however, tried to make up for the revenue loss by increasing the ‘escort tax’ on transport vehicles passing through Pune — it will go up from Rs 60 now to Rs 200 per truck, said committee chairman Shyam Deshpande. This tax is levied on all cargo trucks that pass through Pune though they do not unload any of their merchandise in the city. “The hike in escort tax alone will fetch us at least Rs 60 crore, three times the revenue it earned us last year,” Deshpande said.

These trucks are allowed no more than a three-hour stay in the city and the corporation will introduce measures to keep a check on their movement and sharing the data with all the 36 octroi posts in the city, Deshpande said.