3 min readMumbaiJan 8, 2016 02:06 AM IST
First published on: Jan 8, 2016 at 02:06 AM IST
Amid repeated allegations regarding toll collection companies under-reporting traffic and revenue-collection figures, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) is planning to monitor all 42 toll booths under it online on a real-time basis. The corporation will soon appoint a system integrator to create an online reporting system for real-time data from all 42 toll booths under it on a single web platform.
The MSRDC supervises some of the biggest toll collection contracts in the state such as the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, the landmark Bandra-Worli sea link, and toll collection at the five entry points to Mumbai. “This will help us respond to any complaint or satisfy any query of various stakeholders, including the public, regarding toll collection. We will also have ready information in case of any dispute over toll collection figures with the contractor,” said an official from the state public works department, under which the MSRDC is constituted.
He added such a system will also be helpful while determining the compensation figures if the government has to close a toll booth prematurely.
For instance, the state government has been locked in a conflict with IRB Infrastructure over toll in Kolhapur. After massive protests by locals over the toll proposal, extensive litigation and deliberation, the state government decided to close the toll booth last year, but is still to finalise the compensation to be paid to the private company.
For real-time data collection, all 42 toll booths under the MSRDC’s supervision will be connected through a Wide Area Network, which is a broader, geographically dispersed telecommunications network. These will then be connected with the main server at MSRDC’s headquarters in Mumbai.
“We are yet to decide the format in which the data will be relayed to MSRDC, whether videographic, or just a count of the number of vehicles and the revenue collection. But it is likely to be the latter. We are currently in the process of selecting a system integrator. We should have the web platform up and running in the next four to five months,” the government official said.
The MSRDC has installed automated traffic collection systems at most of the toll booths. However, as of now the corporation gets a count of toll collection figures and the number of vehicles only on a weekly or a monthly basis.
This system will also connect toll collection booths like the old Mumbai-Pune highway, Thane-Ghodbundar Road, integrated road development schemes of Solapur, Nagpur, Baramati and so on.
manasi.phadke@expressindia.com
Share
