20 tax-collection plazas across State vandalized
Intensifying its agitation against toll stations ahead of the forthcoming lok Sabha polls, activists of the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) on Monday vandalised at least 20 toll plazas across Maharashtra, even as the DF Government indicated that it might initiate legal action against the MNS chief for allegedly inciting his party workers into indulging in violence.
Soon after Raj Thackeray exhorted party workers not to pay toll tax in any of the plazas and “thrash anyone insisting on collecting toll tax,” Maharashtra Navnirman Sena workers went on a rampage across the State and ransacked several toll plazas on Sunday night and through the better part of Monday.
Initially, MNS workers targeted toll plazas at Thane’s Anand Nagar and Airoli, which are in the vicinity of Navi Mumbai where Raj had given a call to his party workers to target toll stations. However, soon the “movement” spread to other parts of the State.
Toll plazas vandalized by MNS workers include the ones at Mulund and Dahisar in Mumbai, neighbouring Thane, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Aurangabad, Beed, Jalna, Nanded and Talegaon on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. The agitators also staged a dharna at Khalapur and blocked the traffic on the old Mumbai-Pune highway.
More than 70 MNS workers, including party MlA Pravin Darekar, corporator Rupali Patil, party’s senior functionaries Shalini Thackeray and Sanjay Ghadi, were arrested after they staged agitations against toll stations across the State.
The MNS workers’ acts of vandalism took the Maharashtra Government by surprise. This was evident from the fact that MNS workers had a field day as they went about ransacking toll plazas across the State.
Realising that the MNS was indulging in politics of vandalism with an eye on the forthcoming lok Sabha polls, the Government resorted to a damage-control exercise later in the afternoon.
Talking to media persons, Maharashtra Home Minister RR Patil indicated that the State Government would initiate legal action against Raj Thackeray for allegedly inciting his party workers into ransacking toll plazas across the State and recover compensation from the MNS for damage caused to toll booths.
“We are examining the MNS chief’s speech, in which he exhorted party workers to vandalise toll plazas. We will initiate action against those delivering provocative speeches and recover compensation from MNS for damage caused to public property during its agitation,” the Home Minister said.
Addressing his party’s office bearers and workers at Navi Mumbai, Raj Thackeray had said on Sunday evening: “I advise my party’s office bearers and workers not to pay toll tax in any of the toll plazas till such time the authorities do not tell us as to what purpose it is being collected. If someone insists on your paying toll tax, then thrash the people demanding tax from you. let there be traffic jams. Whatever the consequences, do not pay toll tax”.
Warning Thackeray against provoking his party workers into breaking the law, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar of the NCP said the State Government would not tolerate such acts of vandalism. He said the question of scrapping toll tax did not arise.
“We will not tolerate anyone breaking the law. In the past, we had explored the possibility of discontinuing toll tax. However, we found that scrapping the tax would hit road development work. That’s why the question of our discontinuing toll tax does not arise,” Pawar said, while talking to mediapersons at Pune.
Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Manikrao Thakre urged the State Government to initiate stern action against Raj Thackeray for provoking his party workers to indulge in violence.
On its part, the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance - which has been opposing the levy of toll tax at various plazas across the State - sought to underplay the development.
Saffron alliance leaders, Ramdas Kadam of the Shiv Sena and Vinod Tawde, said that the MNS would not be able to woo people by merely indulging in violence and not be in a position to take its demand to a logical conclusion.
“We have been opposing toll tax for quite some time. Unlike the MNS, which will not be able to force the DF Government to scrap toll tax nor will it be able to come to power, we are committed to doing away with toll tax when we come to power,” Tawde said.
Early this month, Sena workers had vandalized seven IRB Infrastructure-operated toll stations and set two of them on fire at Kolhapur in western Maharashtra. MNS workers followed suit and vandalized a private toll booth at Dombivli in Thane district on January 16, in protest against the poor condition of the roads in the area.