Faridkot
Giving the thousands of people a big relief, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday shut down the toll collection plaza near village Singhanwala, on Kotkapura-Moga state highway.
The toll plaza was installed in 2008 under the build operate and transfer(BOT) policy of the state government.
The Toll Plaza had expired its term, but was allegedly demanding more days, about over a year to compensate for it due to Covid-19 and farmers’ agitation.
“But we have completed the legal procedure before closing down the toll plaza. We had to give it a 60 days notice beforehand, which we did and today we have closed it. It is a big relief to the people travelling on this road. They will save Rs 4.5 lakh daily and besides it, we shall also ensure the maintenance of the road as well. The terms of the toll plazas have been expiring earlier too, but the governments were hand in glove with those companies and used to give them extension. But we shall not give any extension to any toll plaza,” said Bhagwant Mann, chief minister Punjab who himself shut down the operation of the toll plaza by pressing the button.
Mann said that it was the tenth toll plaza which has been closed since the AAP government has been formed.
Man n further said that it was the responsibility of the government to construct and repair roads instead of giving them to the private companies for construction.
He also alleged that the company operating the toll plaza did not provide the services required to be provided to the people on this road as per its contract.
Sukhpal Singh Khaira,MLA Bholath and Pargat Singh, former MLA Jalandhar criticised the chief minister for taking cheap publicity by claiming that the toll plaza was being closed.
They alleged that the toll plaza had expired its contract and was going to be closed itself.
But besides Mann speaking on the spot, AAP spokesman Malvinder Singh Kang questioned them in a tweet about the toll plazas closed during their governments.
The public comments on twitter also mostly welcomed the decision of the AAP government that they had not seen for long that any toll plazas had been closed earlier.
The toll plaza was being operated on the Kotkapura- Moga state highway on about 48 kilometres of stretch and it is the only and main road connecting even western Punjab and Rajasthan to Chanddigarh, and is one of the busiest roads.
Its closure means that people traveling on this road will be saving about Rs 16.2 crore annually.
The road was built by PD Agarwal in 2008 and before it the road was in very bad shape with deep potholes in it. Then the people heaved a sigh of relief after it was built.