Mumbai: Despite an order from the state information commissioner (SIC) in 2015 over updating monthly data of toll collection at five entry points of the city, Bandra Worli Sea Link and Mumbai Pune Expressway, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has failed to update the same on its website for the past three months.
Toll activists have now approached the state information commissioner complaining about the same. “The MSRDC was directed by the SIC to publish information about toll contracts and toll collections. Despite this it (MSRDC) is not publishing the information. I have reminded the MSRDC three times to upload toll collection data of the Mumbai Pune Expressway but the same has not been uploaded,” reads a letter to the SIC written by Vivek Velankar, a toll activist.
“In case of the Mumbai Pune Expressway, the toll collection target is almost complete and uploading the data regarding the same is crucial. I have requested the SIC to impose a penalty of Rs 25,000 on the public information officer of MSRDC as per section 20 of Right To Information Act, 2005 for deliberately and intentionally doing contempt of SIC order,” said Mr Velankar.
The MSRDC has been receiving flak from toll activists over tollbooth operators allegedly under reporting the toll collection data. Toll activists have also questioned chief minister Devendra Fadnavis over his silence over the under-reporting of toll traffic by private tollbooth operators. Meanwhile, when contacted, Dilip Salunkhe, chief engineer, toll monitoring unit, said, “I do not have the status of as to why the data of toll collection has not been uploaded, but the operator of the website was changed a couple of months ago and I will have to check with him.”
Meanwhile, MSRDC will develop a software with the help of ‘Wide Area Network’ (WAN) connectivity, and all WAN servers will be connected with the main server at MSRDC’s head office in Mumbai, which will prevent contractors from under-reporting the traffic data.
