Gadkari Says He Cannot Promise Toll Tax Waiver

Ruling out any exemption from toll collection at national highways, Union road minister Nitin Gadkari said if people want good and services, they will have to pay for it.

Gadkari agreed to the opinion that toll collection should stop but asserted that he cannot promise waiver from the tax on national highways at this juncture.

Toll collection is common across the world as good roads help motorists save both fuel and time, the minister argued during an interview with Marathi poet Ramdas Phutane during an event yesterday.

Commenting on the toll tax being collected on national highways, the minister said, “Good roads help save fuel and time and give life a security. If you want good services, you will have to pay for it.”

He added that there was a time when it took people nine hours to travel from Pune to Mumbai and commuters had to face traffic snarls, but now the same distance can be covered in two hours.

The road and highways ministry seeks to build 83,677 km of highways over the next five years at a cost of about Rs 7 lakh crore. The National Highways Authority of India has set up a special cell to attract domestic and global investments to finance the mega road building programme.

Commenting on his association with the Rashtriya Seva Sangh, the senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader said that he never tried to hide his close association with the party. “I never hid my relation with the RSS and people from all religions voted for me in the elections,” he added.

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