MOGA: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann today closed the Singhawala toll plaza on Moga-Kotkapura road near Chand Purana in Moga district, making it the tenth toll plaza to be shut in the state since the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) came to power last year.
Interacting with mediapersons here, he said commuters had to pay Rs 4.68 lakh daily at the toll plaza. Collectively, they had to shell out Rs 44.43 lakh daily while crossing the now-shut 10 toll plazas, he said.
The CM alleged that these toll plazas were looting the public by flouting the norms. He expressed surprise that instead of taking action, the successive governments had “patronised this loot”.
Mann said at none of the now-shut toll plazas, the facility of ambulance or recovery van was visible despite a provision for it in the agreement. He said the agreement of the Singhawala toll plaza was signed on September 25, 2006, during the then Congress government, and the toll was imposed for over 16 years. He said the company delayed the recarpeting of the road by 158 days; as a result, a fine of Rs 2.48 crore was imposed on the company. The Chief Minister said this fine was never recovered from the company.
According to the Chief Minister, Bhagwant Mann, as per the agreement, the toll could have been shut down on November 10, 2019, when the company again failed to relay the road and a fine of Rs 3.89 crore was imposed on it. But, the people in power at that time allowed the company to flout the norms, he alleged.