CM Mann shuts Lachowal toll plaza, says previous govts overburdened people by 'mortgaging' roads

More such toll plazas will be closed in the coming days as the state government is already preparing a list of all defaulters, he said.Mann said a case under relevant sections, including 420 cheating, and 465 forgery, of the Indian Penal Code has been registered against the company.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday accused previous governments of overburdening people by “mortgaging” roads for their vested interests as he announced the closure of the Lachowal toll plaza on the Hoshiarpur-Tanda road.

Mann said a case has been registered against the company operating the toll plaza for allegedly diverting funds collected from toll charges to a private account while asserting that its term had expired on Tuesday.

Addressing the media here, Mann alleged that the previous regimes overburdened people by “mortgaging” the roads of Punjab for their “vested interests” and that he will take steps to ensure that people are given a reprieve.

The state government has taken a pro-people stand to shut this toll plaza and end the “open plunder and harassment of the general public,” said Mann as he targeted the previous governments for giving extensions to toll plazas.

He further said the company collected more than Rs 105 crore as toll charges in the last 15 years but failed to maintain the Hoshiarpur-Tanda road. More such toll plazas will be closed in the coming days as the state government is already preparing a list of all ''defaulters'', he said.

Mann said a case under relevant sections, including 420 (cheating), and 465 (forgery), of the Indian Penal Code has been registered against the company. If needed, the state government will blacklist this company to ensure that no such plunder takes place in future, he said.

Mann said the 27.90 km-long road was constructed at a sum of Rs 7.76 crore and its maintenance job was handed over to a company in March 2007. The average daily collection from this toll plaza was Rs 1.94 lakh, he said.

The CM said that the company managing the toll plaza had earlier sought an extension of 522 days, citing the COVID-19 pandemic and farmers' agitation.

Any other person would have agreed to the proposal but we kept the interests of Punjabis above everything else and decided to close it, he said.

Earlier, people in power used to give such extensions for their vested interests, he added.

Mann alleged that the company had been violating norms since 2007 and did not adhere to a single clause of its agreement. But the successive governments turned a blind eye towards the company's activities, he said.