Maha Govt announces toll waiver for light motor vehicles entering Mumbai
Mumbai, Oct 14: Maharashtra Government on Monday announced a complete toll waiver for light motor vehicles entering Mumbai at all five booths, with effect from October 14 midnight.
“There was a demand for the toll waiver due to the traffic jams at the toll booths,” Chief Minister Eknath Shinde told reporters after the state cabinet approved the toll waiver decision at a meeting held in Mumbai Monday morning.
The move comes ahead of the upcoming state assembly polls, likely to be announced in a day, an official said.
The toll waiver is expected to bring relief to people travelling in and out of Mumbai ahead of Diwali. Commuters will be able to travel without paying toll at the five booths - Dahisar, LBS Road-Mulund, Eastern Express Highway-Mulund, Airoli Creek Bridge and Vashi.
Light motor vehicles include cars (hatchbacks, sedans and SUVs), jeeps, vans, auto-rickshaws, taxis, delivery vans and small trucks.
More than six lakh vehicles cross Mumbai daily, of which 80 per cent are light motor vehicles, the official said.
The toll waiver move would save time, fuel and reduce pollution, Shinde said. “It was a long pending demand to waive toll at Mumbai's entry points. Many activists had approached the court demanding the toll waiver.”
“Just like we implemented Laadki Bahin, Laadka Bhau and Laadka Kisan, now we have taken this “masterstroke” decision for the commuters,” he said.
Maharashtra’s Public works (public enterprises) minister Dada Bhuse said between Rs 45 and Rs 75 were charged for light motor vehicles at any of the five toll booths.
There are around 70,000 heavy vehicles travelling to and from Mumbai daily, he added. Heavy vehicles are categorised by their gross vehicle weight exceeding 7,500 kg and include trucks, trailers, tankers and other goods carriers' vehicles.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi called the toll waiver decision a "desperate measure" before the state assembly elections.
"Desperate measure just hours before the election code of conduct shows that Mahajhoothi government knows their days are numbered, so try and salvage whatever little they can to save themselves from the public’s wrath. Also because it has been under severe fire for the absolute and total collapse of law and order," she posted on X.
"Just like Ladki Bahin (Yojana) came at the back of a defeat, this toll decision comes at the back of an impending defeat," Chaturvedi said.
MNS chief Raj Thackeray, whose party workers have on many occasions vandalised toll booths, welcomed the Maharashtra government's decision to waive the toll for light motor vehicles.
"Congratulations to my “Maharashtra” soldiers. We fought hard for the demand for transparency in toll transactions. We were criticised for vandalising the toll booths but now every Mumbaikar can travel toll-free," he said. He hoped that the decision was not taken keeping in mind the upcoming assembly polls.
The toll waiver is among the more than 150 decisions taken in a spate of state cabinet meetings over the past fortnight, an official in the Chief Minister’s Office said.
The state cabinet on Monday also approved a proposal to name Maharashtra State Skills University after the late Ratan Tata.
The industrialist died in a Mumbai hospital at age 86 on 9 October.
Maharashtra State Skills University, located in Mumbai, was established in 2022. It offers a wide range of degree and diploma programmes at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
The Maharashtra cabinet also expressed shock over the killing of former state minister Baba Siddique and adopted a condolence resolution to this effect.
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Will vacate one of two assembly seats won in 10 days: BJP''s Suvendu
Kolkata (PTI): BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, who defeated West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Bhabanipur and secured Nandigram for three times in a row in the recent assembly polls, said on Wednesday that he would vacate one of the two constituencies within 10 days.
Adhikari also asserted that the party's central leadership would decide which constituency he would retain.
"I will vacate one seat within 10 days. The party will decide which one I retain. I will not forget my responsibility towards the people of Bhabanipur and Nandigram," he said.
Adhikari on Monday defeated Banerjee in Bhabanipur by over 15,000 votes, puncturing what was long seen as her safest political refuge and delivering a decisive psychological blow to the TMC, amid a sweeping BJP surge across West Bengal.
Addressing party workers and supporters in Nandigram in Purba Medinipur district, the BJP leader appealed to them not to take out victory processions immediately and instead maintain peace.
"Do not take out victory rallies now. Maintain peace and discipline. Celebrate after May 9, after taking permission," he told party workers.
State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya on Wednesday announced that the oath-taking ceremony of the new government will be held on May 9 at Brigade Parade Ground.
Referring to alleged attacks on BJP workers during the TMC regime, Adhikari said he would not forget the “atrocities" faced by them and assured them of taking appropriate action against perpetrators through legal processes.
"I was part of the 2011 ‘poribartan’ (change), and now I am part of the real change. I offer my gratitude to the people of Nandigram," Adhikari said.
He was referring to the TMC's victory in 2011 when the Mamata Banerjee party dismantled the 34-year Left Front regime in the state.
Adhikari offered prayers at a Hanuman statue in Nandigram and remembered the BJP workers, who had died in political violence.
"We will work in such a way that the BJP government in Bengal stays for 100 years," he said, expressing hope that the BJP’s vote share in the state would rise from the current 46 per cent to 60 per cent in future elections.
The BJP leader also assured residents of Nandigram of improved drinking water supply and better hospital and education infrastructure.
