In a major reprieve for the people from digging deep into their pockets, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday announced to shut down three more toll plazas in the state. The action will lead to a daily cumulative saving of Rs 10.52 lakh (on average) of the general public, the CM said. Interacting with the media after closing the toll plazas at Majari (SBS Nagar), Nangal Shaheedan and Mangarh (Hoshiarpur), the CM said that these toll plazas should have been closed around 10 years ago as their term had expired, but instead of closing them, the erstwhile governments in the state connived with them to mint money illegally. It is unfortunate that the politicians of the state back-stabbed the people for their vested interests, Mann added. This is evident from the fact that the PWD ministers of the time – including Partap Singh Bajwa (now leader of Opposition) and SAD ministers, including Parminder Singh Dhindsa along with Sukhbir Singh Badal, plundered the public money ruthlessly, the CM said. The party (read Akali-BJP regime) which had chanted ‘Raj nahi, sewa’ (service, not rule) slogan, was rather at the service of the companies running the toll plazas, Mann alleged. The CM dared these leaders to explain why they had ditched the people of the state for their personal interests. He said that under this project worth Rs 123.64 crore, Rajdeep Tollways company had to construct a 104.96-km-long road, the agreement for which was inked by Bajwa on December 6, 2005. Mann said that the then Captain Amarinder Singh-led government extended a largesse of Rs 49.45 crore in the form of subsidy to the company out of the total project cost of Rs 123.64 crore. The CM said that the company started all the three toll plazas' operation on March 6, 2007, before the new government was formed. It had to complete the project of laying bitumen on road by March 5, 2013, which was accomplished on April 30, 2015, with a delay of 786 days, he added. For this delay the company should have been charged a fine of Rs 61.60 crore, but instead of recovering this fine, the then SAD-BJP government in a treacherous move waived it off, the CM alleged. This was a clear and unpardonable fraud, Mann said. He said that this was not a one-off incident. Again the work of laying bitumen which was to be completed by March 5, 2018, was finished only on November 9, 2020, with a delay of 979 days, he said. And in this case even a notice of delay was not issued to the company, he added. To make matters worse, the third time the work of laying bitumen was to be completed by January 2023, but it too never saw the light of day, the CM said. Mann said that the toll plaza company had sought extension of the contract from his government for 533 days, citing Covid-19 and farm agitations as the reason, but his government rejected 'this unjustified' demand outright. Mann said that the company running these toll plazas should have completed the work by September 21, 2013, but the then Akali-BJP government didn't crack the whip on it. Likewise, the CM said, these toll plazas should have been shut from September 21, 2018, but ignoring the interests of the people of the state, the then Captain Amarinder Singh-led government continued them. Mann said that the connivance of these parties with the toll company was so deep-rooted that they had put it in the agreement that in case of any flouting of norms, the fine to be imposed on the company will not be more than Rs 6.12 crore. “But we will take legal action against the company and issue a notice for violating the norms,” the CM added. On December 15, 2022, CM Mann had made Lachowal toll plaza toll-free on Tanda road in Hoshiarpur. An FIR was lodged against the toll company, namely PD Agarwal Private Limited, which was managing this toll plaza, for collecting Rs 105 crore in 15 years but not maintaining the road as per the standards promised. Also, no ambulance service was provided by the company as per the rules. As per the guidelines, this company has also not maintained the account where the collected money was deposited. Under that toll plaza 27.90-km-long was constructed by the government at a cost of Rs 7.76 crore in 2007 and the maintenance was handed over to a private company which collected nearly Rs 1.94 lakh per day.
