Stop toll tax or we will burn toll booths: Raj Thackeray

Mumbai: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) President Raj Thackeray on Monday demanded the repeal of the road toll tax system, calling it the state’s biggest “scam”.

“I shall discuss the issue with CM Eknath Shinde in a couple of days and see what is the response. Thereafter, my men will go to all the toll collection posts, and ensure that toll is not collected from all the small vehicles,” he said.

“If the government takes action against us, then we shall burn those toll booths,” he threatened.

Thackeray also slammed successive governments in the past three decades which had promised to scrap toll tax, but nothing had been done in the matter so far.

Addressing the media, he questioned why the same companies keep getting toll collection contracts every year.

“We are already paying road tax, then why should we pay toll tax also? Where exactly is the massive toll revenue collected from these toll booths going?”

“Despite this, the condition of the roads and highway remains miserable without any facilities,” said Raj Thackeray.

In an initial reaction, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis said that all small vehicles, including four-wheelers, are exempt from paying toll tax as per government directive.

Returning to his trademark style of ‘Laav re te video’ (Play that Video) for impact, Raj Thackeray also played the old videos of leaders like the late Gopinath Munde, former CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Uddhav Thackeray, and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar.

With inputs from IANS