The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation’s (MSRDC) decision to exact ‘excess’ toll on state-run state transport (ST) buses on the 94-km-long Mumbai-Pune Expressway has become a bone of contention between it and the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC).
In a reply to a query raised via the Right To Information (RTI), the MSRTC revealed that in the past several years it had correspondence totalling 851 pages with the MSRDC about the concession agreement signed between IRB Infrastructure Developers and MSRDC. The agreement states that ST buses that are state transport vehicles are to be charged discounted toll amounts instead of charging toll equal to that of private buses. However, shockingly, the MSRDC has denied having such correspondence.
RTI activist Vivek Velankar had filed the RTI query with both MSRTC and MSRDC regarding the communication between the two on ST buses not being charged discounted tolls. “MSRTC, in its reply, has given stated that correspondence is 851-pages-long and I can access it only after paying a particular amount for the copies. However, the MSRDC, on the other hand, gave a shocking reply saying they have no such correspondence available from their side or that of MSRTC on the issue of the ST buses not being charged discounted tolls. The MSRDC officials are giving misleading information in the RTI,” said Mr Velankar.
However, the MSRDC has claimed there was an amendment in the tender documents in regard to toll charges. “There was an amendment later in the bid documents, which allows us to charge the equal amount of toll for ST and private buses,” said Radheshyam Mopalwar, managing director, MSRDC.
Mr Velankar, however, raised questions over this amendment. “There cannot be any amendment after the concession agreement is signed, and if there is any amendment, the MSRDC should make it public,” he said.
The Asian Age was the first to report, on June 6 2016, that in the last 12 years, the MSRTC has been made to pay the toll on the 94-km-long Mumbai-Pune Expressway without a discount, which has led to the already cash-strapped body suffer losses running into crores.
Meanwhile, toll activist Sanjay Shirodkar, said, “The MSRTC is facing loss of Rs 20 crore annually due it being overcharged when it comes to paying toll on the Expressway. But the MSRTC is also to be equally blamed for the loss as it has failed to convince the state government regarding the scam, it has mere written letters in the past 10 years.”
Lack of discount The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) claims that it has been following up with the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) to charge state transport buses the discounted toll as was decided in the concession agreement and that the MSRDC should also refund the MSRTC the excess toll amount it had collected over the past 12 years. Currently the toll for buses is Rs 572. According to the agreement, the toll for ST buses should be Rs 465.
