State co-operatives minister Chandrakant Patil has said that the government could not close the new toll plaza at Kamothe in Navi Mumbai.

State co-operatives minister Chandrakant Patil has said that the government could not close the new toll plaza at Kamothe in Navi Mumbai. He said that the government would have to pay the contractor Rs 1,700 crore if it wanted to close the toll plaza, which is not possible for the government in today’s situation. However, the government is working out a formula to reduce toll tax on private cars, he said.

The state public works department allowed the controversial toll plaza to operate from Tuesday this week. This led to public outcry as people will have to pay toll taxes at two places within 15 kilometres in Navi Mumbai. The MNS activists ransacked the toll plaza on the first day. However, the government has so far refused to stop the toll plaza from operating.

“The Kamothe toll plaza was designed five years ago. We have only implemented it, that too, after delaying it for two months. We had no other option as the high court ordered us to start the toll plaza with immediate effect,” Mr Patil said.

Interestingly, the BJP minister’s stand is being seen as the party’s U-turn on the issue. Hundreds of BJP activists had staged protests in June last year against the toll plaza. BJP leader Vinod Tawde, who is now the education minister in the Devendra Fadnavis government, had led such protests.

“The cost to build that particular stretch of road (Sion-Panvel highway) is Rs 1,185 crore. If we were to buy back the road from the agency, we will have to pay around Rs 1,700 crore, including interest. The government is not in a position to pay such an amount of money. To make sure people living in the vicinity of the toll plaza do not face hassles, five villages around the booth have been exempted from paying tax. Also, the entire industrial area around the booth has been given relief.

We are trying hard to come up with a plan, by which four-wheelers could be exempted from paying taxes. We are trying to see if we can shift the toll burden on heavy vehicles, to compensate four-wheelers,” Mr Patil said.

PIL seeking closure

A public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Bombay high court last week, alleging corruption in the project and seeking closure of toll collection at this place and investigation and action against officials involved. Among the several objections raised by the petitioner is that the Kamothe toll plaza is illegal because it is situated at the distance of 13 kilometres from Vashi Toll Plaza located on the same Sion-Panvel highway.

The petitioner has pointed out that as per the policy of state government, there should be a distance of 45 kilometres between two toll plazas, and as per National Highway Policy, the minimum distance between two toll plazas is 65 kilometres. The petition, which is seeking closure of this toll plaza, is likely to be heard at the end of this month.