Car owners in Maharashtra can cheer, govt may scrap toll on some roads

The Opposition in Maharashtra, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena, have already called the state’s annual budget estimates presented on Thursday a “desperate” measure by the beleaguered state government. Now, in a move that will no doubt invite more jeers from the Opposition, the Congress-NCP government may exempt all light motor vehicles, meaning all cars, Jeeps and SUVs, from paying toll tax on certain roads in the state. [caption id=“attachment_1090677” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A grab from a video showing political activists vandalising a toll booth. IBNLive.[/caption] A report in The Hindustan Times says the roads could include the entry and exit points for Mumbai and the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. It adds that commercial vehicles in the LMV category will not be able to avail the waiver. A one-way journey on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway now incurs a toll of Rs 165 for an LMV. A government leader was quoted telling the newspaper that with toll collections from LMVs accounting for only 15 percent of total toll revenue, this is an easy decision to make with major brownie points to be earned in the run-up to Assembly elections. After all, in the run-up to Lok Sabha elections, parties including the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and the BJP had demanded a rollback of toll charges . Raj Thackeray’s party had even launched an agitation that threatened to turn violent. Earlier, the government had already decided to close down 33 booths where toll was being collected though the cost of constructing the road had been recovered. A report in DNA also said the Congress-NCP is expected to take a policy decision on levy of toll that could be announced soon, possibly before the monsoon session of legislature ends. Earlier, the Times of India had reported that half a dozen Congress and NCP ministers had warned chief minister Prithviraj Chavan that the toll issue, a highly emotive one that caught on among even non-MNS supporters when the latter party launched its agitation, could cost the alliance dearly in the Assembly elections coming up in October. Chavan had said he was keen to resolve the issue at the earliest. PWD minister Chhagan Bhujbal was quoted as saying that contractors could be paid Rs 294.04 crore as buy-back cost for the 33 projects that originally cost Rs 294.06 crore and where toll booths are now proposed to be shut. The report added that the recommended list does not include toll nakas on Mumbai-Pune Expressway and on Mumbai’s outskirts; these will cost Rs 3,000 crore to buy back.