Mumbai: Resident of Navi Mumbai have started an online campaign against the State government’s decision to allow the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) to collect toll for an additional 12 to 15 years after 2027 on Thane Creek Bridge, or Vashi Bridge.
Called Vashi Toll Mukti, the petition by social activist Saurabh Pandya on www.change.org addressed to the Prime Minister and Chief Minister requests that collection of toll not be extended beyond 2027. The petition had 947 supporters on June.
Mr. Pandya said collection of toll on the arterial bridge has created a menace and is the cause for rising pollution, while increasing daily commute time. “This is also a breach of freedom of movement, which is our constitutional right.”
Kiran Kurundkar, joint managing director, MSRDC, said, “The decision to extend toll collection period was taken to offset the construction of a third bridge between the old and the new bridges at Vashi.”
The first Thane Creek bridge was built in 1973, but the two-lane bridge soon suffered wear and tear. In 1997, a second bridge was built, but the rising number of vehicles using the bridge has made a third bridge necessary.
A Detailed Project Report (DPR) was presented by MSRDC officials to the State Cabinet for constructing the third bridge recently, which was approved at a cost of ₹800 crore. “To recover the cost, we will need an extension of 12 to 15 years for the Thane Creek bridge,” Mr. Pandya said. He added that expediting the construction of the Nhava Sheva-Sewri and Vikhroli-Koperkhairane sea links will make a third bridge at Vashi unnecessary.
Vaibhav Gaikwad, a Vashi resident, said, “The people of Navi Mumbai are paying toll for 25 years and the construction cost of the bridge has already been recovered. Why should people pay for that now? I hope this petition will open the eyes of the government.” Koparkhairane resident Akshay Mehta added, “The Vashi toll naka should go. All it does is cause traffic jams.”
