Toll waiver for Mulund’s Hari Om Nagar residents on the cards

Residents of Hari Om Nagar in Mulund, Mumbai may no longer have to pay toll to cross the plaza on the Eastern Express Highway, according to local MLA Mihir Kotecha. Kotecha met with deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation to begin the process of toll exemption for the residents. The residents have been fighting the issue for years and currently pay a discounted toll of ₹1,500 per quarter.

Good tidings might await more than 10,000 residents of Hari Om Nagar in Mulund, a township that technically falls within the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) limits but is geographically located on the Thane side.

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If the assurance of local MLA Mihir Kotecha is anything to go by, these aggrieved residents will no longer have to pay the toll to cross the plaza on the Eastern Express Highway (EEH) each time they drive to work or home.

On Saturday, Kotecha met deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. “I’ve been fighting for the issue since I held office four years ago. I explained the issue to Fadnavis, and he forwarded my letter to the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) to begin verification of the residents and to start the process of a toll exemption,” Kotecha, a BJP leader, said.

Confirming the development, Radheshyam Mopalwar, managing director of MSRDC, said the process of verification has begun but a decision on the toll waiver will be taken at a meeting with Dadaji Bhuse, minister of public works.

To be sure, Hari Om Nagar Apex Body Federation (HONAFE), a collective of 28 housing societies, has been fighting the issue for years.

“Currently, we pay a discounted toll of ₹1,500 per quarter. This increased from ₹1,000 in October,” said Bharat Jethani, who has been living here for more than 20 years. “To get the discount, we go with a letter from HONAFE, our RC book with the same address, and a proof of address every last week of the quarter.”

This is not a foolproof workaround, but it works for the most part. Sometimes, due to the traffic and the short window to get the card, residents miss out on the discount and end up paying the full cost. Occasionally, the FASTag deducts the toll money over and above the amount paid for the card, alleged vice chairman of HONAFE, S Subramanian.

But the problem doesn’t end at the toll. To reach their houses, residents have to take a right turn on EEH, in the face of traffic from the opposite direction. “This is extremely dangerous as cars drive at a high speed. There’s no point fighting for the toll if we’re not going to have our lives,” Subramanian said.

For this, HONAFE has been simultaneously fighting for a traffic signal at the spot, or an underpass or a flyover. Subramanian said they were told that a traffic signal is not feasible, as it is a national highway.

The underpass was, however, brought up by Kotecha who claimed that MSRDC was also instructed to start work on it. “The underpass is a long-term solution; it won’t happen overnight,” the legislator added.