Bharuch: Rajya Sabha MP from Gujarat Ahmed Patel in a letter to union minister for road, transport and highways requested to immediately stop construction work of a toll booth near the newly built four-lane extradosed bridge across the Narmada river in Bharauch district. Ahmed Patel told Gadkari it is shocking to see that a toll booth is being constructed near the bridge when the Congress led UPA government sanctioned the project, the aim was not to collect toll from motorists. The work should halt. Rs 379 crore bride project was approved by the Manmohan Singh government in 2013. It was sanctioned under the engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) route to prevent levy of toll on motorists using the bridge, said Ahmed Patel in his letter.

There are concerns that the new toll booth will increase traffic problem on this busy highway which connects Ahmedabad and Mumbai, Vadodara and Surat and also Delhi and Mumbai. For the same reason of traffic jam, toll tax had been abolished for earlier Sardar bridge on this route. As the new bridge has been constructed entirely through government fund, there’s no reason why toll should be collected.

However speaking to a Gujarati daily, minister of state Mansukh Mandavia claim that then Congress led UPA government had made provision for toll collection on this new bridge.