19 August,2014 07:04 AM IST | | A correspondent
Come Tuesday, not only will toll no longer be collected there, but the road will soon be repaired by BMC, which will take charge from Monday midnight
After a series of reports by mid-day on how motorists were forced to pay toll to use the pothole-ridden road in Aarey Milk Colony, there is now good news - come Tuesday, not only will toll no longer be collected there, but the road will soon be repaired by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) which will take charge from Monday midnight.
The Aarey Colony link road, connecting the western express highway on the Goregaon end to Powai and Marol, was the only road in city limits where toll was collected from motorists. Currently, R5 is charged from two-wheeler riders, Rs 7 from autorickshaw passengers and Rs 15 from those using light utility vehicles.
Approximately 25,000 vehicles ply on this road every day, and the daily revenue generated from toll collection is not less than Rs 3.5 lakh. This implies that the profit earned by the contractor is R1.89 lakh a day, and roughly Rs 6 crore a year.
The road, which has already been repaired twice in the past year - once before the monsoon and a second time recently - has been reported with over 200 potholes currently.
At midnight on Monday, the BMC will officially take over control of the road from the Chief Executive Officer of the Aarey Colony Complex. "The toll collection on this road will stop from Tuesday. We will soon also start repair work of the bad patches that have appeared on the road," said Additional Municipal Commissioner S V R Srinivas.
It should be noted that the BMC has plans to construct the Goregaon-Mulund Link Road (GMLR) using the Aarey Colony road.
