Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann closes three more toll plazas, says people will save Rs 10 lakh daily

Mann said the toll plazas should have been closed around 10 years ago as their terms had expired but the then government had connived with companies running the plazas, adding that it was unfortunate that the politicians of the state had “backstabbed” the people for their vested interests.

The AAP leader alleged his was evident from “the fact” that former PWD ministers such as the Congress’s Partap Singh Bajwa (now leader of the Opposition) and the SAD’s Parminder Singh Dhindsa and Sukhbir Singh Badal had “plundered the public money mercilessly”. He said the party that had chanted “Raaj Nahin Sewa” had served the interests of the companies running the toll plazas, and dared the Opposition politicians to explain why they “had ditched the people for their personal interests”.

Mann said that under a Rs 123.64-crore agreement signed with Bajwa on December 6, 2005, Rajdeep Tollways had to construct a 104.96-km long road. The Amarinder Singh-led Congress government, however, extended Rs 49.45-crore largesse as a subsidy to the company, he alleged.

Mann said the company, which operated all the three toll plazas, had to complete the work of laying bitumen by March 5, 2013, but it was completed on April 30, 2015—after 786 days. For this delay, the company could have been charged a Rs 61.60-crore fine but the SAD-BJP government waived it instead, he alleged.

For the second time, the work of laying bitumen was to be completed by March 5, 2018, but it got over on November 9, 2020. However, according to Mann, not even a notice was issued to the company over the delay of 979 days. For a third time, the work was to be completed by January 2023, but it was never accomplished, he added.

Mann said the toll plaza company had sought an extension of 533 days citing Covid and the farmer agitation but his government rejected the demand. These toll plazas should have been completed by September 21, 2013, but the then Akali-BJP government did not do anything, he further alleged.

The toll plazas could have been shut on September 21, 2018, but the then Amarinder government allowed them to continue operations, according to Mann.

Mann said that such “deep-rooted” was the “connivance” that the politicians had stipulated that Rs 6.12 crore was the maximum fine that could be levied from the company for flouting the agreement’s norms.

“But we will take legal action against the company and issue notices for violating the norms,” he added.

On December 15, 2022, Mann removed the toll from the Lachowal plaza on the Tanda road in Hoshiarpur. An FIR was lodged against the company managing the plaza, PD Agarwal Private Limited, for collecting Rs 105 crore in 15 years, not maintaining the road well, and not providing an ambulance service.

The company did not maintain the account where collected money was to be deposited, as per the guidelines. Under the toll plaza, a 27.90-km road was constructed by the government at a cost of Rs 7.76 crore in 2007 and its maintenance was handed over to the private company, which collected nearly Rs 1.94 lakh per day.