While the BMC diligently looks after the maintenance of the Western and Eastern Express Highways, two arterial roads used by thousands of motorists, Aaditya Thackeray, former minister and Shiv Sena leader, has addressed a letter to the municipal commissioner, urging the scrapping of toll plazas at five entry points to Mumbai.

In his letter, Aaditya emphasised that despite the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation taking over the maintenance of the Western and Eastern Express Highways from the MMRDA, there has been no significant improvement in the upkeep of these crucial roads.

Charkoti toll plaza near Palghar. File Pic/Atul Kamble

Thackeray pointed out that the toll plazas at Mumbai`s entry points have now become a source of unnecessary nuisance, causing traffic snarls, pollution, and wasting commuters` time, energy, and money on a daily basis. He questioned the fairness of charging Mumbaikars, who already contribute significantly to the revenues of both the union and state government, twice for using these roads.

“Why are Mumbaikars being unfairly charged twice for tolls, especially when the maintenance of the WEH and EEH is now under BMC, which already imposes a `street tax` and various other charges? It makes no sense for us to pay a toll tax to a government-backed corporation that has no direct involvement with the roads we use, and for which we are already paying through BMC taxes. Moreover, these highways have been poorly maintained, even during Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation’s (MSRDC) tenure,” Thackeray argued in his letter.

He urged the BMC to completely eliminate tolls at Mumbai`s entry points and suggested seeking a one-time settlement with MSRDC (or its preferred contractors) to compensate for the tolls collected over the past 20 years. Thackeray also highlighted the issue of advertisement hoarding revenue, which continues to go to the MSRDC, despite the handover of the highways. He questioned the justification for the MSRDC to collect revenue from the hoardings that rightfully belong to BMC and Mumbai directly.

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No of entry points to city with toll plazas

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