Mumbai : The decision regarding exempting smaller vehicles from toll at Mumbai Entry Points (MEP) would be taken by the month end, PWD minister Chandrakant Patil said here on Thursday. He also announced the ‘Chief Minister Gram Sadak Yojana’ on the lines of Central government’s scheme to provide road connectivity to all villages.
Patil was speaking to reporters after his reply to a calling attention notice over condition of state highways and other roads, where he assured the house that State government has decided to keep small vehicles out of the ambit of toll tax while developing new roads under BOT.
“In next four year’s time Maharashtra would be free of potholes. We have chalked out a plan under which each and every bad road would be repaired in next four years,” the minister said.
The minister also said that the department has initiated action against over a hundred erring officials, which has sent across a strong message amongst officials and the policies are now being implemented in a smoother manner. “We are also encouraging officials who have carried out their duties efficiently. We have initiated an award scheme for that,” the minister said.
The minister also made it clear that under the new policy, any new road built with BOT principal would automatically exempt the small motor vehicles. “While carrying out the new policy, we shall also ensure that the heavy vehicles are not over charged. If there is a gap between expenditure on the income, State government along with the Central government would create a corpus to fund such roads,” the minister said.
State government has initiated work on new road projects worth Rs 400 crore, Patil added.
