DNA; Ranjan Dasgupta; Friday, April 1, 2011,
The Pune-based RTI Forum of Instant Information has accused the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) of turning a blind eye to the crucial issue of toll collection on the Pune-Mumbai expressway.
The RTI Forum has demanded greater transparency on the part of the corporation on collection of toll on the expressway. The forum’s accusation comes at a time when, beginning today (April 1), the toll charges stand hiked by 18%. The toll for cars has increased to Rs165, a steep rise of Rs25.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday, the forum’s convenor, Vinita Deshmukh, said information secured under section 4 of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005 proved that the MSRDC does not have any mechanism to monitor whether the toll collection at the expressway is being carried out in a transparent manner.
“MSRDC is relying on the figures given by Ideal Road Builders (IRB),” Deshmukh said. The president of Sajag Nagrik Manch, Vivek Velankar, and the spokesperson of the Professionals Party of India, Girish Deshpande, were also present.
According to the forum, IRB entered into a contract with the state government stating that for 15 years from the beginning of fiscal 2004 to the end of the 2019 financial year — it would collect toll and maintain the expressway.
IRB had paid an advance of Rs918 crore to the state government that would be recovered from the toll. The charges would also include the investments made by IRB and the yearly maintenance of the expressway.
“Strangely, there are no clauses in the contract that specifies a limit on up to how much IRB should continue to collect. It has so far collected over Rs950 crore, as against the projected amount of Rs606 crore as envisaged by the IRB initially,” said Deshmukh.
According to her, there are no figures available with the MSRDC about the amount that IRB spends on maintaining the expressway every financial year. What has baffled the RTI activists is that MSRDC does not have any mechanism to check whether the data furnished by IRB is accurate.
“MSRDC does not have any figures about toll collection or movement of vehicles of its own. It purely banks on IRB for these details. This is certainly not a transparent manner to function,” Velankar said.
According to the RTI activists, as per the contract there is a toll monitoring unit established by the corporation involving a private consultant. “Sadly, this unit is not monitoring the revenue aspect at all. It is just concentrating on maintenance of the expressway,” Deshmukh said.
Responding to a query, Deshmukh said that the RTI activists and NGOs of both Mumbai and Pune are exploring legal options on this issue, especially because maintenance of the expressway was pathetic. “Mishaps are taking place regularly with people dying due to accidents. One can also spot two-wheelers and cattle on the expressway,” they said.
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