Raj Thackeray: Do not pay Toll Tax

chromaniac said:

I have to pay toll tax here in Gurgaon to go to a McDonald's in Manesar region.

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Hitting at the Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra Raj said that the state is already collecting 13 types of various taxes which are supposed to be used for building roads and the toll was being used only as a fund for political use. "The state is collecting over Rs.22,000 crore on road tax of vehicles sold in the state and a similar amount on fuel cess and other taxes. The calculations show that the state has three times the funds which are actually needed for construction of new roads and bridged", Raj said.
''We decided to do a proper scrutiny of how much money is being collected at various toll plazas in Maharashtra and met Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan to explain to him that there is large scale misappropriation in road toll collection but he said he has to run a coalition government and cannot act against his ministers. We had no option but to launch an agitation against the collection of toll", Raj added.
Raj said that the opposition in Maharashtra was not aggressive enough to take on the government on the issue of toll and called for a road transport closure in the state on 12th February. He announced that MNS will stop all road transport in Mumbai and the state on 12 the February and he will lead the agitation. Raj dared the state government to arrest him and said that he will lead the agitation from the front on Wednesday.
"The roads in Karnataka are much better. Various services are provided on highways. Yet the toll in Karnataka is one third of Maharashtra. Just on Mumbai-Pune expressway between 2007 to 2011 over 2000 people have died in accidents because of bad design and bad maintenance of roads. Gujarat also has better infrastructure in the state. But the state government in Maharashtra is busy just collecting money from vehicle owners", Thackeray claimed.
"We have evidence to prove that on most toll-plazas in Maharashtra, money collected in cash goes to politicians. In many places the toll-plazas which were to be closed in 2011 or 2012 after a five or 10 year collection are still operational. Some of them are collecting over Rs.1 crore per month. There is no accountability of any kind", Raj alleged.

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SVK said:

Sanjay Nirupam is Congress minister, but Reliance distributes electricity to Mumbai. And Mumbai is ruled by Shivsena About Raj's new diktat, this is expected move, because this toll issue has really grown bigger, and every political party would like to grab opportunity over this issue.Few weeks back after long agitation by public and few elected leader, state govt had to stop toll collection in city of Kolhapur. Earlier every vehicle had to pay toll to enter Kolhapur, this despite roads were not really in good condition, and no clarity by toll operator over collection details.

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A day after his party’s uncharacteristically peaceful agitation against toll plazas in Maharashtra, MNS chief Raj Thackeray was on Thursday back in his element, warning of “wreaking havoc” at houses of toll contractors who use force to collect the levy.“I appeal to people of Maharashtra not to pay toll till the state government implements changes in the toll policy,” Mr. Raj told reporters after meeting Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on the issue.“If you don’t want to pay toll and if anyone at the toll plaza forcibly makes you to do so, we will wreak havoc at the house of the concerned toll contractor,” the MNS president said.“Then the government should not blame us,” he said.

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