PWD nixes idea of toll waiver to small vehicles

The PWD runs 14 toll stations while the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), another agency that constructs highways, has over 50 toll stations. Here, smaller vehicles are already exempt from toll at 15 nakas

MUMBAI: With the debate on toll collection in the state heating up, the public works department (PWD) held a series of meetings in the last two days to discuss the issue. Its opinion is that a toll waiver for smaller vehicles on over 49 existing tolls is not feasible.

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In 2015, the state government spent ₹798 crore to close down 53 toll nakas across Maharashtra. If it takes a similar decision on exempting smaller cars from toll, the burden on the exchequer will be over ₹3,000 crore and will make it difficult to maintain roads.

The PWD runs 14 toll stations while the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), another agency that constructs highways, has over 50 toll stations. Here, smaller vehicles are already exempt from toll at 15 nakas. Of the remaining 35, 20 are on the Samruddhi expressway between Mumbai and Nagpur, five at the entry points to Mumbai, nine on the Mumbai-Pune expressway and one on the Bandra-Worli sea link.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Monday declared that toll collection in Maharashtra was a huge scam and a money-minting business for politicians. He also announced that his partymen would pull down toll plazas if toll collection from smaller vehicles continued.

The PWD officer said that toll collection was needed to maintain highways. An MSRDC official reiterated the point. “When we scrapped the toll stations at Kalamboli on the Sion-Panvel highway in 2015, the concessionaire withdrew from the contract,” he said. “It made it difficult for us to maintain the highway.”

PWD minister Ravindra Chavan said there were three agencies that constructed and maintained the state’s roads and in turn collected toll. “There could be issues with the toll collection, but a waiver is not possible,” he said.

BOX

HEAD: Activist to file fresh PIL

Rutuja Gaidhani

Anti-toll activist Srinivas Ghanekar, who filed a PIL in 2012 to scrap all toll nakas, will file a fresh PIL demanding that most of the revenue from tolls should go to the government, not contractors.

“Ideal Road Builders (IRB), India’s leading transport infrastructure developer, earned around ₹421 crore in September 2023, whereas it was ₹328 crore in September 2022,” he said. “The condition of roads will improve only when this money reaches the government and not contractors.”

Ghanekar said the Maharashtra government was supposed to provide a single- entry subsidised monthly pass to people living within a five-km radius of toll plazas. However, from 2009 to 2023, no such pass was issued to Thanekars and Navi Mumbaikars.

Five toll plazas mentioned in Ghanekar’s 2012 PIL were eventually shut down. The toll plazas at five entry points to Mumbai and the Mumbai-Pune expressway continue to be functional, and the activist’s upcoming PIL will address these.