Dinesh Kamath's news item 'Toll to be charged on the Eastern Freeway?' that was published in Newsband

Toll to be charged on the Eastern Freeway?

By Dinesh Kamath

NAVI MUMBAI: The proposal to charge a toll on the Eastern Freeway have angered the residents of Navi Mumbai.

The freeway, which opened last month, is proving to be very beneficial to the residents of Navi Mumbai. But the residents of the city strongly feel that the new 14-km stretch should be left free of toll. According to them, it is the duty of the government to look after the maintenance of the road.

These residents already pay surcharge on rail tickets and a toll before entering Mumbai. Now on top of that they are being asked to pay a toll for using Eastern Freeway. This, the residents feel, is absolutely not fair.

If the toll is charged on the freeway, it will discourage the private car owners but will prove beneficial to public transport. Hence those who work for public transport insist that charges be collected for using of freeway since this could help the government to recover Rs 1200 crore spent on the freeway’s construction.

There are some people who argue that when toll is charged on the Bandra-Worli Sea Link, why the same rule shouldn’t be applied in the matter of freeway? Hence it is left to be seen as to what decision the government arrives at in the matter of charging toll for Eastern Freeway.