Good cause, wrong method: Is MNS's agitation on road toll justified?

The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena took to the streets on Wednesday to protest against what they deem illegal toll being collected by road contractors across the state and have said they will continue to protest against the system until there is greater transparency. “We have been fighting for this issue for the last two years. We have raised the issue with the chief minister for four times and he raised his hands saying he cannot do anything about it. We went to courts as well, but all we got was different dates of appearance. We had to recourse to ask people to not pay toll. This is of the contractors, by the contractors and for the contractors,” MNS leader Shalini Thackeray said during a debate on CNN-IBN show India at 9. “We understand that toll is required. But what we are protesting is the process in which toll is paid by the common man, after paying 13 types of taxes for roads,” she said. Over 2300 MNS activists including chief Raj Thackeray and party MLAs took to the streets in Mumbai on Wednesday. [caption id=“attachment_138693” align=“alignnone” width=“380”] ![](https://images.firstpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/mns_PTI.jpg) MNS workers protest against toll tax in Mumbai. PTI[/caption] NCP MLA Jitendra Awhad backed the with MNS’s demand for transparency but said doing away with toll wasn’t a solution. “Every system has to be re-looked into, It is not a fact that Maharashtra is the only state where toll is taken. Good roads being made only because of the toll system. What is wrong with it?” he said. Defending the present toll collecting mechanism he said, “I am in favour of transparency. And there is transparency. If you go to the Bombay-Pune highway it will show how many vehicles are passing and how much toll has been collected.” While the MLA defended present system of toll collection, the rule book suggests that there should be a distance of 80 kms between toll booths and in Maharashtra it is 30 kms. This has fuelled allegations that toll operators are fronts for politicians who gain from the toll collection. But road developers say that they operated purely by rules set down by the government and there is little collusion with politicians. “This is a sector which is largely misunderstood. I don’t think there is any connivance with politicians. It is upfront when the project is tendered. It is the State or the NHAI that decides the distance between the toll plazas. However, I agree there is scope to increase the distance (between booths),” Virendra Mhaisker, Chairman of IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd that develops roads across the state, said. Mhaisker said that toll tax was collected for ’nation building’. However, according to some like activist Vishwambhar Chowdhury, the bidding is transparent but corruption takes place after that. “Take the Kolhapur toll plaza as an example. It is a joining point of nine roads and people are paying for nothing, It is dacoity,” Chowdhury said. Even the MNS leader pounced on Mhaiskar’s statements but pointed out that there was a lot wrong with the present system of collecting toll. “The contractors recover their money in the first five years. We have documents to prove it. Where are the services? Where are the bus bays and toilets?” Thackeray said. She said that the government’s failure to talk about the various issues surrounding the toll collection only showed that it was operating in collusion with contractors.

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Good cause, wrong method: Is MNS's agitation on road toll justified?

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