The final decision on toll for small vehicles at Mumbai entry/exit points and the Mumbai-Pune Expressway to be taken after expert panel’s suggestions
Four-wheeler owners who use the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and Mumbai Entry/Exit Points (MEP) will have to wait till July-end for getting a waiver on toll tax. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that a high-powered committee would decide on the contentious issue.
ADVERTISEMENT
Fadnavis said the government was willing to waive toll tax for smaller vehicles at the Mumbai entry/exit points and the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, but the decision would be taken after a committee under Additional Chief Secretary (PWD) Anand Kulkarni recommends measures to be taken over the financial and legal aspects of the issue. “Once we get the report by July end, we will take a positive decision on it,” he told the Legislative Assembly on Friday.
Toll free plazas
Meanwhile, the CM has announced that 53 other plazas across the state would be toll free for small vehicles and state transport buses.
Earlier, it was informed unofficially that 65 plazas would exempt small vehicles and state transport buses from May 31 midnight, but the number was brought down to 53 as the government decided to buy back 12 plazas and stop their operations from May 31.
As per the decision, the 53 toll plazas will not charge toll from smaller vehicles from the intervening night of May 31 and June 1. Fadnavis said that a committee led by PWD Minister Eknath Shinde would decide on the Kolhapur toll plazas by July end.
Kolhapur residents have violently opposed the collection, which was recently approved by the Supreme Court. The chief minister clarified that the waiver would not be passed on to heavy vehicles and the concession period of the existing toll plazas would not be extended.