Thane resident P Sarnaik nails Ghodbunder Road toll impropriety

Authorities behind the toll collection at Ghodbunder Road in Thane were issued notices by the Bombay High Court on Thursday.

Justice Swatanter Kumar in this notice has asked the parties to submit the reports of concerned account within 15 days. Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), Ideal Road Builders (IRB) and the state government have been held accountable in this petition.

Earlier this year, Shiv Sena leader Pratap Sarnaik had petitioned the high court to stop the collection of toll and also recover the excess amount from IRB.

"During the hearing of Thursday, notices were issued to all the three parties. They will have to submit the accounts pertaining to the expenses incurred for construction and maintenance of Ghodbunder Road along with the toll amount collected by IRB till now," said Sarnaik.

Sarnaik added, "In the meanwhile, Supreme Court has taken a decision supporting the petition. According to the court, the government cannot use toll as a medium of revenue generation."

The petition was filed after the audit report for March 2007 by the Comptroller and Audit General (CAG) was released. According to the report, the MSRDC had erred in making the toll collection contract with IRB.

The discrepancy was that a lower reserve price was fixed which caused a loss of Rs5.93 crore; this resulted in an unavoidable burden of Rs95.56 crore that would be passed on the general public by way of toll for 15 years.

Petitioners have demanded the removal of toll posts at Ghodbunder Road and other toll posts in Thane and Mumbai which have already recovered the construction and maintenance cost.

Deepa H Sarna/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication