Respite trifle, unhappy Thane commuters wait for full Mumbai entry toll waiver

THANE: The recent announcement of stopping some toll booths across the state has brought joys among political parties who have been fighting for this since quite some time. While some politicians were celebrating over the news by distributing sweets, Thaneites were not a happy lot as they still have to pay toll while entering and exiting Mumbai.
Citizens are upset as they feel that veteran Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde, who started the entire protest against toll collection since the Congress-NCP regime, has done very little for those travelling from the city to Mumbai on a daily basis.‘‘My office is at BKC. I travel by car to everyday. While the government has shut down a dozen of tolls across the state, life has hardly changed for us as I continue to pay cess while travelling to Mumbai and back,’’ said a resident of Pokhran Road.
The toll at Mumbai hasn’t been shut despite the saffron party taking charge of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) in the BJP-led government.
During the recent state legislature session, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had announced a stop on nearly a dozen toll booths across the state and exemption of small vehicles like cars, jeeps and state transport buses at 53 toll points in the state from June 1. In fact, Shinde, along with a social worker Srinivas Ghanekar, during the erstwhile DF government had filed a PIL in the Bombay high court against the toll collection in Thane. The petitioner has demanded that toll collection at entry and exit point of Mumbai be stopped allegedly due to huge corruption in tax collection.
‘‘It is a classic and rare case where the petitioner himself is not only the part of the government, but also the heads the department,’’ the resident said. “The minister must ensure that toll collection centers implements all the points that the petitioner had raised to bring in transparency in toll collections in Maharashtra.” Shinde’s office staff reiterated that they stand firm by their commitment. ‘‘During a debate on the toll issue, the CM said that a decision on the remaining tolls will be taken by July 31,’’ the MSRDC minster’s office stated. In 2009, the state government ordered a toll-fee concession to people residing within a 5-km radius, but MSRDC has been allegedly defying the orders only to benefit a handful of private contractors, said experts.