Political parties have been making violent noises over toll charges intermittently and then falling silent. However, the real truth about toll collection will come out only if more citizens file RTI applications asking relevant questions
The tirade against toll charges in Maharashtra, which incidentally are the highest compared to other states has been going on for quite a while. Anti-corruption crusader 
Anna Hazare had steered a campaign, which led to the closure of 31 toll nakas out of the 165 in the state; former IPS officer SM Mushrif has sought legal intervention with the matter in the Supreme Court; Moneylife has undertaken inspection of files under Section 4 in the case of Pune-Mumbai expressway case. Every now and then political parties indulge in violent protests against toll charges, allegedly more for political one-upmanship than sorting out the issue that is burdening commuters.
In the last fortnight, toll collection centers or plazas have been vandalised by Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) in various parts of the state. A similar exercise had been undertaken by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) earlier. Presently, Nav Bharat Democratic Party’s Maval candidate Harshvardhan Sukhatme has undertaken `Munnabhai’ style of protest by offering roses and get-well cards to staff and officers at toll plaza.
In order to know real truth about collection of toll by relevant private agency, which is designated to look after the operations, maintenance and security of the highway/expressway, it is very pertinent for a large number of citizens to file applications under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the toll monitoring unit of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC). The duties and responsibilities of the toll monitoring unit, as mentioned on its website, it is bound by duty to have “Correspondence with members of legislative assembly (MLAs), members of Parliament (MPs) and other people related with toll matters. Giving replies to queries under Public Information Act.’’
So, what is the kind of information you can get under RTI?
You can ask for a copy of the contract agreement between the MSRDC and the private agency. I had procured the 800-odd page agreement in the Pune-Mumbai expressway case.
Why is this a public document?
Because as per Section 4 of the RTI Act, any such agreement/ contract which affects the public at large demands transparency. You can also ask for information regarding the amount of toll tax collected, month wise, since the time the contract came into existence; what is the methodology of monitoring tax collection by the MSRDC; what is the amount of toll collection that would cover the cost and profit of the private agency and at which point of time would it become a freeway; what is the ratio of toll tax shared between the MSRDC and the private agency; who is the officer In charge of this monitoring;
documents pertaining to action against private agency in case it has not adhered to deposit the toll money as per norms; documents pertaining to any action taken against the toll monitoring officer in case he has failed to efficiently monitor the collection of the private agency and so on.
While the above information can be sought under Section 6 of the RTI Act, wherein you write an application but would have to wait for 30 days to get a reply, it is more advisable to do inspection of files under Section 4 of the RTI Act, by visiting the office on any working day during the working hours.
I used Section 4 of the Right to Information Act (RTI) between 25th March, 2011 to 28th March, 2011 to request for the inspection of files of the contract agreement between the MSRDC and Ideal Road Builders (IRB). I also asked for the year-wise data of the amount of toll collected from April 2004 to February 2011. I visited the MSRDC office in Pune for this.
As per the statement of IRB, which it has sent to MSRDC, it had collected Rs949.45 crore up to September 2010. When I asked about the authenticity of the toll figures supplied by IRB, the MSRDC officials threw their hands up saying that they were not responsible for this. However, I pointed out to them that this was in total contradiction to the information available on their website, www.msrdc.org, under 'duties and responsibilities of its toll monitoring unit' which states that: MSRDC is responsible for: monitoring the toll receipts; scrutinising claims of various toll collecting agencies and put for approval by competent authority; taking action against defaulters as per contract conditions; corresponding with regional offices regarding toll collection work and; giving replies under the Right to Information Act.
However, mum was the word. Horrifyingly, the MSRDC has appointed an independent consultant for this work and he actually told me that they monitor the maintenance and operations of the IRB but not the collection of toll revenue!
States Mushrif, “as per Rule 6 'verification of fee collection' sub-rule 1: it should be the responsibility of the person (the MSRDC in this case)…to strictly ensure that all fees leviable are levied, collected and correctly maintained. The person shall submit certified audited copies of the statements of fee collection at specified intervals as required under the notification for collection under sub-rule 2 of Rule 3. The auditor shall be appointed by the government. And as per sub-rule 2: The central government shall have the right to check the fee collection at any or at all times through their designated officers.''
All about MSRDC’s Toll Monitoring Department
Duties and responsibilities of Toll Monitoring Unit
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(Vinita Deshmukh is consulting editor of Moneylife, an RTI activist and convener of the Pune Metro Jagruti Abhiyaan. She is the recipient of prestigious awards like the Statesman Award for Rural Reporting which she won twice in 1998 and 2005 and the Chameli Devi Jain award for outstanding media person for her investigation series on Dow Chemicals. She co-authored the book “To The Last Bullet - The Inspiring Story of A Braveheart - Ashok Kamte” with Vinita Kamte and is the author of “The Mighty Fall”.)
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I was not aware that an independent consultant is commissioned by the MSRDC to look into the maintenance and the operations part. But the fact that they are not looking into the revenue collection is nothing but making a mockery of the way our government functions.
In other states that I have been the toll tax is low and the highways are well maintained. But the expressway stretching between Pune and Mumbai is a money guzzling project which even after a decade has failed to recover its operational costs. If 1000 crores is the money that IRB has collected so far then the company should have already gone bust. There is no way it could have survived.
It is indeed apalling to see that the political class being highly uneducated consider the common man as one who can be easily made to believe that it is in the interests of the aam aadmi that they strive for.
Perhaps collaborative effort in filing RTIs would help
Just a thought on what I saw in one department in Delhi
This basic road existed 200 years ago,carved out by villagers. It is only improved by the government. Improvement is their job, out of overall revenue. If that also is priced in retail as toll, then a day will come I can not get out of my hose without paying a toll, because that street is asphalted by the municipality.!! This is ridiculous.
Our campaign should be ,"Toll Only for New roads"