Maharashtra Navnirman Sena attacks 22 toll booths in Mumbai, Maharashtra

MUMBAI: Activists of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena vandalized at least 22 toll booths across the state after its chief Raj Thackeray exhorted people not to pay road toll at a rally in Navi Mumbai on Sunday night. 

More than 40 party workers were arrested after they targeted booths in Mulund, Airoli, Dahisar, Thane and Raigad district. Six hooded vandals attacked the Urse toll plaza on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway at 1.40am on Monday. They damaged six booths, smashed glass panes and two computer monitors. Similar incidents were witnessed in Pune, Nashik, Solapur and on the outskirts of Nagpur. 

Earlier on Sunday, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan insisted that abolishing road toll was impossible. 

Mumbai Entry Points Ltd (MEPL), which handles toll collection in Mumbai's periphery, has demanded enhanced security measures. "The state government should provide 24x7 police protection at toll booths till the completion of the elections," said its chairman Jayant Mhaiskar. 

Mhaiskar said, "The toll plazas that bore the brunt suffered a 15% drop in collection. We will also have to spend Rs 2 lakh to replace each damaged booth." Two MEPL employees suffered minor injuries in Airoli and Mulund. 

A senior MSRDC official said, "The protest does not make sense as it was the Sena-BJP government which had finalized the toll policy when the alliance was in power in Maharashtra." 

The first stone was hurled at the Airoli toll booth at around 9.15pm on January 26; within minutes the toll plaza in Mulund on the Eastern Express Highway was damaged by a group returning home from the rally at Navi Mumbai. 

At Dahisar, around 1.30am on January 27, four men smashed the window panes of two toll cabins on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad national highway. "The quartet was immediately taken into custody and released on bail. They have been identified as Gangaram Bhalerao (22), Raju Pal (31), Sandeep Kapate (28) and Krishna Badgu (30). All are residents of Ketkipada in Dahisar East," said senior inspector Ansar Pirzade of Dahisar police. They were later released on bail. "The Mulund police are investigating whether these four men were also involved in the incident at the Mulund toll-naka," added Pirzade. 

Around 11.30am on Monday, a group of 50 MNS members again protested on the north-bound stretch of the highway at Dahisar. Pirzade said, "They did not indulge in any vandalism the second time. But the protest led to traffic snarls on the highway. We took 33 MNS members, including MLA Pravin Darekar and his brother, corporator Prakash Darekar, into custody." The accused were booked under Sections 143 and 341 of the IPC for unlawful assembly and causing obstruction to traffic, besides Section 135 of the Bombay Police Act. They were later released on cash bail of Rs 5,000 each. The protest at the toll naka lasted till 1pm but traffic had backed up to several kilometres, said officials. 

In other parts of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, the protest gathered steam as Raj Thackeray's message reached MNS units. Nine MNS functionaries were arrested by the Kashimira police station for vandalizing the IRB-controlled toll post near Chenna Creek on the Ghodbunder road. MNS activists later trained their sights at the toll post at Kharegaon on the Thane-Bhiwandi road which was partially damaged by pelting at around 12.30am on Monday. 

Raigad police arrested 12 of the protesters after their protest at Khalapur toll plaza on Mumbai Pune Expressway disrupted traffic. 

Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan maintained that it wasn't possible to do away with road toll. "We can't abolish it as we have launched several highway projects on a private-public partnership basis since it is not possible for the state government to raise funds for the construction of roads and flyovers on its own. Private investors can recover their investments only from toll collection.'' 

Source - TOI