Sena MP seeks action against toll tax contractor

Shiv Sena MP Shivaj Adhalrao Patil on Monday urged the government to punish the concessionaire taking toll tax but not building six bypasses on the National Highway NH-60 from Khed to Sinnar in Maharashtra. In a special mention in the Lok Sabha, he pointed out that Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari had announced exactly a year ago in Pune at the ground breaking ceremony that the construction of the bypasses would positively start by October 2017 and completed by August 2018. Regretting that the site has not yet seen any activity and he gets the blame as the area''s MP, Patil said the project''s construction had begun on February 12, 2014 and even toll collection began in February 2017 and yet the concessionaire has not built the bypasses.

He said concessionaire has been making false excuses of land acquisition issues and farmers'' resistance for not completing the work, while the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) showed no urgency whatsoever to implement the project.

Stressing that construction of these bypass roads is extremely essential to resolve traffic congestion, the MP narrated how it takes five hours to cover just 50 km of distance from Khed to Alephata as ambulances rushing to hospitals are held up in the traffic jam. He said six accidents have taken place and six people have died in ambulances.