Expressway toll plaza is fleecing you

Mumbai - The collections at the Mumbai Pune expressway toll plaza is taking a toll on the citizens' pockets.

As per the numbers of toll tax collected thus far on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway toll plazas published on the website of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), the contractor has already earned an additional Rs 13 crore in the month of November. The toll contractor had a target of collecing Rs 2,869 crore till March 2019 to defray the cost of the expressway, but the target has been completed in November 2016 itself.

Now, as the amount has been recovered, MSRDC and the contractor were expected to stop collecting toll from commuters on this stretch, but that has not happened. Delhi high court directions in this regard are being ignored and contractor has earned additional income of Rs 13 crore, alleges transport expert Vivek Velankar, who says that the authorities are using the provision of the time period to continue extracting toll for the next two and a half years. At this rate, says Velankar, the contractor is expected to earn Rs 700 crore from these toll plazas. Velankar has sought relief on the issue in his letter written to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.