Cops ensure Business as usual at toll plazas

Though most of the toll plazas located at several entry points to the city functioned uninterruptedly under heavy police protection there were a few that had to face Maharashtra Navnirman Sena MNS party workersrsquo ire yesterday Motorists especially truck and tempo drivers looked happy as they managed to save hundreds of rupees which they pay as toll on a daily basis MNS chief Raj Thackeray had called the protest Addressing a rally in Thane Thackeray had accused tollcollecting agencies of unlawfully charging toll even after the construction cost of the road was recovered A party worker is taken into custody PicsSameer Markande Threats Anjlesh Keshwar incharge of the toll plaza on Bhiwandi Kalyan road managed by Bhiwandi Kalyan Shil Phata BKSP said ldquoWe learnt about the vandalism at Dahisar toll plaza and chose to remain shut after local MNS party workers threatened us MLA Prakash Bhoir the local MNS leader had forced us to stop collecting toll since Tuesday at 830 pm Though we resumed the process yesterday morning a huge mob of MNS workers arrived at the plaza and warned us against it We immediately shut down the collection boothsrdquo When inquired whether they had received police protection or not Keshwar said ldquoThe local police immediately arrived to control the situation and several policemen were deployed at the spot But if we continue to collect toll then tomorrow we would have to face the consequencesrdquo On an average about 7000 vehicles pass through BKSP toll plaza In the last two days the toll plaza has incurred losses worth Rs 4 lakh Fortified Heavy police presence at Mulund toll plaza left prevents MNS party workers from forcibly shutting down the toll naka On the contraryhellip While the BKSP toll plaza remained shut for the day IRB managed toll plaza on the Nashik highway near Thane remained operational under heavy police protection Toll plaza incharge K Kutty said ldquoThe MNS party workers had gathered around the toll plaza and asked us to shut down But the police arrived on time and we continued with our work under their protection Being on the highway connecting the city with the suburbs we would have incurred a huge loss had we not collected tollrdquo The request letter After the MNS party workers vandalised the Dahisar toll plaza police personnel were deployed at four major toll nakas at Airoli Vashi Mulund and LBS Marg Speaking to MiD DAY an MEPL official said ldquoYesterday MNS party workers along with party office bearers came to our toll plazas in Mulund and Vashi and gave us a request letter in which they have mentioned their demands We will be discussing these demands with the concerned MSRDC officialsrdquo lsquoCops saved usrsquo Attempts to vandalise the Vashi toll naka remained unsuccessful as the Vashi police had fortified the toll plaza Initially over 20 party workers tried to vandalise the toll naka at around 1230 However timely intervention by the Vashi police foiled their bid and 15 people were arrested Later at 4 pm a group of 10 MNS party workers reached the toll plaza and seeing no police personnel around pelted stones at the plaza and tried to flee the spot However the officials who were stationed next to the toll plaza detained them These party workers were held at Vashi police station until evening ldquoThough the MNS workers attempted to vandalise our toll naka we havenrsquot incurred any loss today as traffic on the SionPanvel highway was normalrdquo said an official at Vashi toll naka According to the official more than Rs 10 lakh is collected at the toll naka everyday with inputs from Saurabh Katkurwaru00a0