Times of India: Mumbai: Tuesday,
January 28, 2014.
Flaws in
implementation and discarding of a recent decision of Maharashtra chief
minister Prithviraj Chavan to conduct an electronic census of vehicles passing
through toll booths has resulted in growing unrest among citizens and political
parties against the toll policy. The state's failure to frame a comprehensive
policy to collect toll had invited the Bombay high court's censure last year.
The HC had
chided the government for its casual approach and failure to frame a
comprehensive policy on toll collection. "We are distressed with the
casual manner in which the issues which are raised in the petition are being
dealt with by the state government," the HC had said in June 2013.
"Formulation of a policy is necessary with increasing privatization of
roads and the collection of toll. The state government does not seem to have
any established norms for dealing with situations where the contractors do not
put into place required infrastructure, but at the same time, continue to
persist in collection of a toll. The toll is a form of recompense for services
rendered namely, of building infrastructure which the state may not have funds
or resources to deploy. Allowing contractors to continue to collect toll
without an adequate machinery for supervising if the road is complete in all
respects and whether there are deficiencies leading to a situation where
commuters have to incur untold hardships is just not acceptable.''
Officials
said the policy, initiated in 1998, clearly stated that the fee should be
determined after considering vehicle flow and capital outlay for the road
project. "The fee is collected as per guidelines of the Maharashtra Motor
Vehicles Tax Act listed under Section 20. This rule specifies that after the
capital outlay on a particular project is recovered, the government should
order a stop on toll collection. But the rule has been conveniently overlooked
as toll contractors, politicians and bureaucrats are getting multi-crores for
continuing the toll,'' said citizen activist Shrinivas Ghanekar.
He said the
capital outlay is calculated on the basis of total investment of the
contractor, maintenance charges, administrative charges, interests on principal
amount and reasonable profit. "But the government avoided announcing the
actual capital outlay for a project and keeps bunching road projects to
continue the toll. Mumbai Entry Point Ltd has been allowed to collect toll till
2025 in lieu of maintenance of 27 roads and flyover projects in Navi Mumbnai,
Thane and Mumbai,'' Ghanekar said.
He pointed
out that most contractors have recovered their capital outlay but continue
collection. "It is daylight robbery. A Public Works Department reply to my
right to information (RTI) application stated that the total cost of
Thane-Bhiwandi bypass was Rs 104.83 crore along with maintenance. But the
figures put up on the display board by the Kharegaon toll post contractor
reveals a collection of Rs 438 crore,'' the Kalyan resident said.
Ghanekar
pointed out that chief minister Chavan had in 2012 instructed the state
administration that posts should be opened up only after taking an electronic
vehicle census. "Presently, the vehicle count on any toll booth is totaled
by toll contractors and submitted to the state government. There is no
mechanism to cross-check the figures. But if there is a digital tally machine
which records the number of vehicles passing through each booth, it helps
setting a deadline for toll collection. This is not exactly beneficial to
corrupt politicians and bureaucrats,'' he added.
Ghanekar and
Shiv Sena legislator Eknath Shinde have filed a PIL in the Bombay high court
seeking transparency in toll collection.
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