Yeh Baat Kuch Hazam Nahi Hui Sir

Image used for representational purposes

The Eknath Shinde/Fadnavis/Ajit Pawar Government decided to waive off toll for Light Motor Vehicles beginning midnight of 14th October 2024.

The model code of conduct for elections announced in Maharashtra too kicked in at the same time.

 It is another attempt at swaying the voters to vote for Mahayuti Sarkar of Shinde/Fadnavis/Pawar.

In a statement, Eknath Shinde claimed that this was not being done keeping the elections in mind.

Of course, all the 38 ground breaking ceremonies, all the schemes, like the Ladki Behna Scheme, all the sops have got nothing to do with elections.

What wonders is that why all of this is happening in the last 30 days of the existence of this ‘illegal’ government?

The Supreme Court had categorically called this government ‘illegal’ but refrained from pulling it down, leaving the decision to the speaker, Rahul Navekar. The speaker dragged his feet for two years and then said that all MLA’s remain qualified even when they had broken all rules of anti-defection law. Those who defected were allowed to continue and those who continued to remain in the old outfit were allowed to continue too! The breakaway party was given the official tag by the election commission and those who remained back, defying the whip of the breakaway party, were also not disqualified!

Ostensibly, Eknath Shinde claimed that he was worried about the delays on the toll booth face by car owners and therefore took the decision. He is not interested in the chair (sic) but only interested in the interest of the people.

As per contract between the Government and the Toll Operator, all losses incurred by this decision will have to be borne by the Maharashtra Government.

It is estimated that 2,80,000 Light Motor Vehicles pay toll every day. Calculated at 90 Rupees for a round trip, the amount works out to 2.5 Crores per day or 919.8 Crores every year.

According to official data, the loss is just 50 Lakhs per day, which defies all calculations. Even if one was to consider 2,80,000 vehicles at 45 Rupees per day, the amount comes to 1.2 Crores per day and not 50 Lakh as officially claimed.

The toll concession was given for 16 years for 2100 Crores. Assuming that just 1 Crore was collected every day for 16 years, the amount comes to 1 Crore x 16 Years x 365 Days = 5,840 Crores. The MEP (Mumbai Entry Point) Company walked away with 3,740 Crores (after kickbacks and bribes of course).

Earlier this money was being paid by those who were using the roads, now it will be paid by everybody in the state as now this money will be paid by the State Government from its own tax collection taken from those who live in Maharashtra. That man in Latur too will pay for this decision as will the people of Pune.

It is a good move anyway. The cost of flyover / bridge construction has been recovered a long time back but the toll was continuing. It was a long pending demand of the citizens of Mumbai. Toll plaza’s were leading to traffic snarls and wastage of precious fuel which is an imported commodity.

Although the removal is good, it would have been better that the government had cancelled the toll contracts and removed the toll plaza’s all together by paying off the toll operators their dues. That would have been a better one-time solution.

This attempt to appease the voters and then claiming that this has nothing to do with the elections makes one say, ‘Yeh Baat Kuch Hazam Nahi Hui’.