Union Minister and BJP ally Apna Dal (Soneylal) chief Anupriya Patel had earlier brought up the issue of OBC quota in state services in a letter. On Wednesday, she wrote to the UP government, which includes Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, once more, accusing “illegal” and “irregular” money collection at a toll plaza on Mirzapur Road. Patel is an elected Member of Parliament (MP) from Mirzapur.
Patel’s accusation was refuted by UP Industrial Development Minister Nand Gopal Gupta, often known as “Nandi,” in response to her letter, referring to it as “baseless.” In response, Nandi stated that “no illegal toll collection was made in relation to the matter in question.”
According to Nandi’s letter, three points along the Varanasi-Shaktinagar Marg had toll plazas built previously, “all in accordance with the prescribed standards”: Fattepur (4.680 km), Lodhi (68.100 km), and Maloghat (108.940 km).
.According to Nandi, a private developer’s complained that cars travelling from Shaktinagar to Varanasi choosing to detour through Chakia after crossing Ahraura (a chainage of 18.700 kilometres) and vehicles heading to Shaktinagar from the Fattepur toll plaza were taking the Varanasi-Shaktinagar route before to Ahraura, driving through Chunar and Narayanpur-Jamui, which was resulting in financial losses.
The establishment of an additional toll booth at Ahraura was given conditional approval in order to cover the revenue loss. The minister responded by pointing out that the condition requires that toll fees be collected from cars at either the Fattepur or Ahraura toll plaza.
The minister also made it clear that tolls are only collected at Ahraura from cars that opt to utilise the Varanasi-Shaktinagar route instead of paying at Fattepur, emphasising that tolls are collected at “only one of the two plazas.” Accordingly, Nandi stated that the toll system described above and the separation between tolls are “as per the established standards.”
A quick tag system for toll collecting at the booths was originally mandated for the private developer in question, M/s ACP Tollways Pvt Ltd (M/s APCO). However, on July 14, their representative was called again since they had not taken the required steps, and this time, the directive was to make sure that the rapid tag system was installed at every toll booth along the route within a month. As a result, Nandi continued, the Union Minister of State’s concerns are regarded as “baseless.”
