Toll operators on Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway turn off lights to skimp on bills

After finding out that most of the bridges on the MumbaiAhmedabad Highway remain in the dark in the night midday delved deeper to see who was responsible for the blackout at the expense of the lives of motorists The result of the investigation came as a shocker as the team learnt that the toll operator who is in charge of paying bills and maintaining streetlights does not switch on the lights to save on power billsAlso read Poorly maintained MumbaiAhmedabad Highway is a deadly nightmare for motoristsDarkness engulfs the Manor bridge on the highwayDuring a test drive on September 10 night midday saw that of the 21 bridges from Versova bridge to Charoti on the MumbaiAhmedabad Highway only 3 had functional streetlights Thereafter the team got in touch with both traffic police authorities and MSEDCL about the same and were told that power connection to some of the stretches were disconnected due to nonpayment of electricity bills However later MSEDCL officials said that the private contractors who operate the toll plazas intentionally do not switch on the lights to save on power billsBills pending power onMSEDCL officials said that of the 21 bridges the connection to only Khaniwada bridge was disconnected due to nonpayment of bills to the tune of Rs 14720 They further added that Mahadiscom as a rule does not disconnect supply to public infra despite a few months of backlog in bill paymentA senior official from the Mahadiscom on the condition of anonymity said ldquoElectricity supply to Sasunavghar Naigaon junction Sativali Shirsad Kashid Kopar Tungarphata is operational and there has been no power cut done by usrdquoOne of the only three bridges on the Charoti stretch of the MumbaiAhmedabad highway where streetlights were workingSpeaking on the pending bills officials said the last electricity bill for Sasunavghar bridge was paid on July 27 and the current pending bill amount is Rs 5250 Similarly the pending amount for Naigaon junction is only Rs 600 and for Sativali bridge is Rs 14540 The last payments for both the bridges were done in July As per MSEDCL officials bills for Shirsad and Kopar bridges were last paid in June and now they have an outstanding amount of Rs 41340 and Rs 31670 respectivelyThey added that despite the pending bills all the bridges have active power connection However midday during its test drive found all of the above mentioned bridges in darkness lsquoItrsquos due to contractrsquoAs highway traffic police officers said that the streetlights on the bridges are to be maintained by the toll operators midday checked with the National Highways Authority of India to see who was in charge of the two toll plazasmdashone at Khaniwade and another at Charotimdashon the stretchAccording to the NHAI website Ms Sri Sai Enterprises has been given the contract for the Khaniwade toll and Kalyan Toll Infrastructure Ltd is in charge of toll collection at Charoti toll plaza since AugustThe website further mentioned that the Representative of Concessionaire for both the plazas is Santosh Bhelekar midday tried to get in touch with Bhelekar on the number mentioned on the website but could not reach himAnother bridge where not a single streetlight was onWhen contacted NHAI Consultant Mukund Thakur who is in charge of the MumbaiSurat stretch of the highway said ldquoAs per the earlier contract it is the job of the toll operator to look after the maintenance and payment of electricity bills of the streetlights on the bridges on the highway Recently the toll collection contract has been given to new contractors but the bill payment for streetlights was not a part of the contract We have sent a revised proposal to the authorities to include the clauseNHAI has already started the process to pay the outstanding electricity bills and the Demand Draft for the same has also been given to the MSEDCL office Soon all the lights on the bridges will be operationalrdquoHowever when midday spoke to one of the NHAI consultants who wished not to be named said ldquoWe got the contract to look after the road maintenance but not the streetlights The contractor before us was tasked with looking after both road maintenance including streetlights and toll collection But now NHAI has awarded separate contracts for toll collection and road maintenance We get complaints from motorists about the nonfunctional lights and we even wrote to NHAI seeking the contract for the same During our inspection we saw wires were cut from the main connectionrdquolsquoDereliction of dutyrsquoWhen contacted Deputy Commissioner Police of Highway Traffic MumbaiAhmedabad Highway Mohan Dahikar said ldquoI dont know why the lights are not operational but our officers often write to the authorities concerned about the samerdquoToll activist Sanjay Shirodkar said ldquoIf the toll operator is deliberately not switching on the streetlights on the bridges with the intention to save money then a criminal offence should be registered against them because the bridges with no lights can be death traps for motoristsrdquoldquoThis is a very serious issue that got uncovered This is a clear case of cheating breach of trust and dereliction of duty and all parties responsible including the contractors are liable to be prosecuted as citizens pay toll to private contractors on government assurance to get the best service They should be prosecuted for conspiracy to cause grievous hurt and injury which may even result in deathrdquo said Jitendra Gupta transport expert1No of bridge facing power disconnection due to pending bills