Moneylife: Pune: Friday,
January 31, 2014.
Political
parties have been making violent noises over toll charges intermittently and
then falling silent. However, the real truth about toll collection will come
out only if more citizens file RTI applications asking relevant questions.
The tirade
against toll charges in Maharashtra, which incidentally are the highest
compared to other states has been going on for quite a while. Anti-corruption
crusader Anna Hazare had steered a campaign, which led to the closure of 31
toll nakas out of the 165 in the state; former IPS officer SM Mushrif has
sought legal intervention with the matter in the Supreme Court; Moneylife has
undertaken inspection of files under Section 4 in the case of Pune-Mumbai
expressway case. Every now and then political parties indulge in violent
protests against toll charges, allegedly more for political one-upmanship than
sorting out the issue that is burdening commuters.
In the last
fortnight, toll collection centers or plazas have been vandalised by Raj
Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) in various parts of the state. A
similar exercise had been undertaken by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)
earlier. Presently, Nav Bharat Democratic Party’s Maval candidate Harshvardhan
Sukhatme has undertaken `Munnabhai’ style of protest by offering roses and
get-well cards to staff and officers at toll plaza.
In order to
know real truth about collection of toll by relevant private agency, which is
designated to look after the operations, maintenance and security of the
highway/expressway, it is very pertinent for a large number of citizens to file
applications under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the toll monitoring
unit of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC). The duties
and responsibilities of the toll monitoring unit, as mentioned on its website,
it is bound by duty to have “Correspondence with members of legislative
assembly (MLAs), members of Parliament (MPs) and other people related with toll
matters. Giving replies to queries under Public Information Act.’’
So, what
is the kind of information you can get under RTI?
You can ask
for a copy of the contract agreement between the MSRDC and the private agency.
I had procured the 800-odd page agreement in the Pune-Mumbai expressway case.
Why is
this a public document?
Because as
per Section 4 of the RTI Act, any such agreement/ contract which affects the
public at large demands transparency. You can also ask for information
regarding the amount of toll tax collected, month wise, since the time the
contract came into existence; what is the methodology of monitoring tax collection
by the MSRDC; what is the amount of toll collection that would cover the cost
and profit of the private agency and at which point of time would it become a
freeway; what is the ratio of toll tax shared between the MSRDC and the private
agency; who is the officer In charge of this monitoring; documents pertaining
to action against private agency in case it has not adhered to deposit the toll
money as per norms; documents pertaining to any action taken against the toll
monitoring officer in case he has failed to efficiently monitor the collection
of the private agency and so on.
While the
above information can be sought under Section 6 of the RTI Act, wherein you
write an application but would have to wait for 30 days to get a reply, it is
more advisable to do inspection of files under Section 4 of the RTI Act, by
visiting the office on any working day during the working hours.
I used
Section 4 of the Right to Information Act (RTI) between 25th March, 2011 to
28th March, 2011 to request for the inspection of files of the contract
agreement between the MSRDC and Ideal Road Builders (IRB). I also asked for the
year-wise data of the amount of toll collected from April 2004 to February
2011. I visited the MSRDC office in Pune for this.
As per the
statement of IRB, which it has sent to MSRDC, it had collected Rs949.45 crore
up to September 2010. When I asked about the authenticity of the toll figures
supplied by IRB, the MSRDC officials threw their hands up saying that they were
not responsible for this. However, I pointed out to them that this was in total
contradiction to the information available on their website, www.msrdc.org,
under 'duties and responsibilities of its toll monitoring unit' which states
that: MSRDC is responsible for: monitoring the toll receipts; scrutinising
claims of various toll collecting agencies and put for approval by competent
authority; taking action against defaulters as per contract conditions;
corresponding with regional offices regarding toll collection work and; giving
replies under the Right to Information Act.
However, mum
was the word. Horrifyingly, the MSRDC has appointed an independent consultant
for this work and he actually told me that they monitor the maintenance and
operations of the IRB but not the collection of toll revenue!
States
Mushrif, “as per Rule 6 'verification of fee collection' sub-rule 1: it should
be the responsibility of the person (the MSRDC in this case)…to strictly ensure
that all fees leviable are levied, collected and correctly maintained. The
person shall submit certified audited copies of the statements of fee
collection at specified intervals as required under the notification for
collection under sub-rule 2 of Rule 3. The auditor shall be appointed by the
government. And as per sub-rule 2: The central government shall have the right
to check the fee collection at any or at all times through their designated
officers.''
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