Mumbai: In a vehement protest against new toll plazas at Kharghar and Kamothe, which started functioning from midnight of January 6, a convoy of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena activists vandalized some of the toll booths. The incident occurred at around 4.45 am on Tuesday, when a convoy of seven cars with 30 MNS activists damaged three toll booths at Kamothe.
The convoy had come from Mumbai; the miscreants smashed the glass shield of the booths and sped away before the police team arrived at the spot. The toll plaza employees immediately vacated the booths and stood by watching helplessly as the vandals struck
Meanwhile, motorists travelling towards Mumbai and Panvel faced much inconvenience throughout the day due to the teething troubles in toll collection. On both the carriageways, major traffic congestion was seen for most part of the day. Traffic cops were deployed at the two toll plazas and tried hard to manage the situation.
The vehicles are being charged Rs. 30 to Rs. 240 at this toll plaza.
Traffic cops deployed at the Kamothe toll plaza claimed that in order to decongest the traffic near the toll plazas, some vehicles will be allowed to pass without paying the toll charges. It is understood that to begin with, vehicles with registration numbers starting with ‘MH 46′ have been exempt from paying the toll.
The cops assume that it may take at least a week to streamline the process and the situation may worsen at weekends. Meanwhile, the PWD minister Chandrkant Patil told the media that the decision to collect the toll was taken on the High Court’s directive.
