Undeterred by the ongoing protests by the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Wednesday ruled out any possibility of scrapping the toll tax in the State, but said the State Government would look into “specific complaints”, if any, against toll plazas concerned and design the levy in such a way that the common man was not affected by it.
Reiterating that MNS chief Raj Thackeray’s speech allegedly inciting his party workers to target toll plazas across the State was being examined and “action” would be taken “as per law”, Chavan said: “Building roads by levying road user tax — popularly known as toll — is a State policy, going back to 20 years. This is a considered policy of the Government of India and the State Government to build roads quickly using the money raised by way of toll. If there are specific complaints against any particular project, they will be considered separately and will continue to be considered”.
Talking to mediapersons after the weekly State Cabinet meeting here, the Chief Minister said: “In the past, I have received representations against certain toll levying firms about the higher toll being charged by them. We are addressing all such complaints. Similarly, social activist Anna Hazare had raised the matter in the recent past. Based on his suggestion, we have taken a policy decision to install electronic display system at toll plazas that gives details of how much of money has so far been collected for a particular road project”.
“We have also taken a decision to exempt the State transport buses from paying road user tax at various toll plazas so that common people are benefitted. The entire toll policy is designed in such a way that only the upper class society people who use four wheelers are levied toll. We have exempted two wheelers, cyclists and vehicles carrying agricultural produce from paying the toll. We are also reviewing the toll policy further,” the chief minister said.
Replying to a question, Chavan said that the Public Works Department (PWD) and Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) were the main agencies that undertook construction of roads by involving the local civic bodies and entering into contracts with private toll collection firms and the rates were fixed by them. “Hazare had raised some fundamental issues with regard to the toll collection.