Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has announced the closure of a toll plaza located on the Moga-Kotkapura road near Chand Puraana. This is the 10th toll plaza to be shut down since the AAP government came to power. The chief minister blamed previous governments for allowing these toll plazas to exploit the public. Commuters who were paying Rs 4.68 lakh every day to use the Moga-Kotkapura road will now be able to save their money.
According to Mann, people had to pay a total of Rs 44.43 lakh to cross these 10 toll plazas, which he described as shops for the open loot of the general public. The operators of these toll plazas allegedly violated norms and looted the public. Surprisingly, previous state governments turned a blind eye to their misdeeds instead of taking action against them.
Mann also criticized the previous governments for ignoring the issues with these toll plazas and allowing them to illegally make money. He pointed out that none of the toll plazas had facilities like ambulances or recovery vans, despite them being included in the agreements.
Regarding the Singhawala toll plaza specifically, Mann revealed that the agreement for this toll plaza was signed in September 2006 during the Amarinder Singh government and the toll was imposed for around 16 years. The company responsible for maintaining the road failed to complete the first overlay on time and was fined Rs 2.48 crore, but the government never collected this fine.
In November 2019, when the second overlay was not done, a fine of Rs 3.89 crore was imposed on the company. This was a violation of the agreement and could have led to the termination of the contract if the fine exceeded Rs 3.11 crore. Mann questioned why the Congress party did not take action against these toll plazas during its tenures and accused them of patronizing the operators.
Lastly, Mann mentioned that the company running the Singhawala toll plaza requested an extension due to farmers’ protests and the COVID-19 pandemic, but the government denied their request.
