Opinion Heavy toll
MNS vandalism apart, too many parties believe that citizens only want a free ride.
MNS vandalism apart, too many parties believe that citizens only want a free ride.
In at least eight cities in Maharashtra, MNS workers went on a rampage after party chief Raj Thackeray ordered them to attack any toll booths that dared to do their job. He encouraged them to “crush the toll nakas”, and never mind traffic jams or other situations that may arise — as long as they resisted a payment that Thackeray declared arbitrary and unfair.
This bout of vandalism follows the Shiv Sena’s recent attack on toll booths in Kolhapur. While the MNS may be the most violent and attention-seeking of the agitators, nearly every mainstream party in the state has joined the protest, including workers from the ruling Congress and NCP.
Given the looming general election, and the assembly election months after, political parties are bound to compete over issues that resonate with voters. But the unfortunate truth revealed is that now, all parties believe that the shortcut to a successful mobilisation is to coerce the government into cutting prices for consumers. Recently, after the Aam Aadmi Party promised to halve electricity bills, Maharashtra undid its own efforts to reform power. A state that had made significant headway towards its fiscal responsibility goals is now saddled with a Rs 7,200 crore subsidy.
These actions discourage the very idea of neutral, responsible regulation, where prices are largely independent of political currents. Maharashtra cannot afford to be a toll-free state, and private sector participation is essential to building roads. It has pumped in almost Rs 15,000 crore so far, which is five times the annual budget of the state public works department. The state must encourage transparency and make sure consumers are not overcharged, while taking a tough stand on MNS-style mob action.
The MNS claims that its vandalism is warranted by a corrupt and extractive toll collection system. They claim to be taking the law into their hands “for public good”, after having personally observed the vast amount of money collected and the shoddy condition of the roads. Other parties, too, have relied on their own gut sense of how citizens are being cheated by civic utilities, and fought to slash prices rather than reform, or even accept that fiscal space must be made somewhere else to accommodate such generosity. The toll agitation is only one of the ways in which bad politics can unravel economic good sense.
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