Civic body wants toll to maintain eastern, western highways

The BMC standing committee declared on Wednesday it would take charge of western and eastern express highways only if the toll collected was deposited with the civic body.

Committee chairman and Shiv Sena corporator Rahul Shewale said, "BMC will maintain the highways only if funds from toll collection are given to us."

Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), which awarded the Rs 2,100-crore toll collection contract to IRB Infrastructure Ltd-owned Mumbai Entry Point Limited in September 2010, gets the money at present.

The agency will collect toll for a concession period of 17 years. The contract also includes maintenance of 27 major flyovers, five pedestrian subways, rail overbridges and a rail underbridge.

Former Dy CM Ajit Pawar had asked the civic body on September 24 to take over maintenance of the highways from the public works department.

Since June, 173 potholes on the highways have been reported on the BMC tracking website but none has been repaired.

At the standing committee meeting on Wednesday, Congress corporator Pravin Chheda said pothole-filling had been assigned to too many agencies, thus thwarting the effort.

MNS corporator and committee member Sandip Deshpande said, "BMC can barely take care of roads it is already in charge of. It should prove the ability to manage own roads before taking over maintenance of the highways."

BJP corporator Dilip Patel demanded that minutes of the BMC meeting with Pawar be made public.

"If it is indeed true that Pawar has handed over the highways to BMC for maintenance, I would like the corporation to give us minutes of the meeting it had with the former deputy CM," he said.

Shewale, however, refused to take up the issue with the civic administration.

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