I am the father of expressway toll in the country: Nitin Gadkari
New Delhi, Aug 3: Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday told Rajya Sabha members that he was the ''father of toll tax" on expressways in the country as he built the first such road in Maharashtra during his stint as the state minister in late 1990s.
The senior minister made the remark while responding to supplementary queries in Question Hour where members expressed concerns over the setting up of toll plazas on expressways inside city limits due to which the local population had to pay toll even when commuting within the city.
The road transport minister, who is often praised even by opposition members for the performance of his ministry, assured the members that the issue will be rectified and claimed the problem had arisen under the UPA rule.
He said before 2014, when the UPA government was there, tolls were introduced near the city area and everyone had to pay it. "This is very unfortunate and unlawful," he noted.
"Fortunately or unfortunately, I am the father of this toll because for the first time in this country, I started the toll system and the first project of BOT (build-operate-transfer) was Thane in Maharashtra," Gadkari said.
Under Gadkari's stint as PWD minister in the Maharashtra government between 1995 and 1999, the first of its kind Mumbai-Pune Expressway project was taken.
The minister said with the new system which is going to be launched, "we will see that the city area will be eliminated and there will be no charge on the people".
He said often the people in the city use only 10 km of the expressway road and are made to pay the toll for 75 km.
"That is absolutely wrong. But that is not my problem and it happened during the previous government. We will rectify the thing," he said, allaying the concerns of members.
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Anti-encroachment drive in Surat locality that witnessed stone pelting at Ganesh pandal
Surat, Sep 9: The civic authorities in Gujarat's Surat city carried out an anti-encroachment drive involving a bulldozer in Saiyedpura on Monday, hours after the locality witnessed rioting after some minors threw stones at a Ganesh pandal.
Authorities, however, were quick to clarify that the anti-encroachment drive was not linked to the violence on Sunday but was planned weeks in advance.
A bulldozer was pressed into action by the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) to raze illegal concrete and temporary constructions and remove handcarts of street vendors in the area.
Communal tensions gripped Saiyedpura on Sunday night after a mob of around 200-300 persons gheraoed a police station and pelted stones to protest against the detention of six minors accused of throwing stones at a Ganesh pandal.
There was heavy police deployment in the locality, from where 28 persons were arrested, and six minors were detained on charges of rioting and attempted murder after some persons, including policemen, were injured in stone pelting.
Surat deputy mayor Narendra Patil maintained that the anti-encroachment drive had been planned some two weeks ago, and it had nothing to do with the clash on Sunday night.
He said encroachment was a long-standing problem in Saiyedpura, which has a Muslim-majority population, and local corporators had complained about the same.
"The decision to remove encroachments was made in a meeting 15 days ago. Saiyedpura is worst affected by illegal encroachment, and all four local corporators requested action. They had pointed out that people had no space to walk in the locality due to encroachment," Patil told PTI.
He said coordinated action was being taken zone-wise, and action would be taken in all areas facing the encroachment problem.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Anil Patel justified the civic body's action in the area and said the government should ensure strict action against elements that cause rioting without provocation.
