NCP workers protest at Mumbai’s Mulund toll plaza, let vehicles through without paying toll

The Eastern Express Highway may be jammed, but if you’re going out of Mumbai city limits or entering it, you may not have to pay toll today.

Local workers of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) started protesting at Anandnagar toll plaza in Mulund around 10am on Monday, demanding that toll collections be stopped, following frequent traffic congestions on the Thane stretch of the highway owing to the closure of Mumbra bypass road for repairs. As part of their protest, party workers mobbed the toll booths and let vehicles through without paying toll. They said they would continue the protest through the day.

Work on the road began on May 8. As a result, it is completely closed for traffic and more vehicles have to use the Eastern Express Highway as now vehicles heading to Navi Mumbai also have to take the Mulund-Airoli route via Anandnagar.

The Mumbra bypass road is one of the key routes for heavy vehicles heading towards Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), Ahmedabad, Gujarat, Nashik and Bhiwandi. T

Motorists have been complaining that since the bypass road has closed, it has been taking them twice the time to reach their destination, especially during peak hours.

Last week, NCP MLA Jitendra Awhad demanded that toll payment at Airoli and Mulund be suspended as long as the bypass road is closed. With no response coming from the state government, party workers decided t take matters in hand on Monday morning. Awhad said: “Thane residents spend almost an hour crossing the toll naka at Mulund and Airoli. The situation will remain unchanged for close to two months. The government should stop toll collection for these two months, and bear the loss. They should spare Thane residents of this burden when they are spending hours in traffic jams.”