Prashant exposes overcharging Toll Booth - Fusion - WeRIndia

Prashant Burge, an RTI activist, helped expose a toll booth which was charging extra on NH4. He got suspicions on the particular tool booth and then filed an RTI application. It was proved that his suspicions were right and he helped expose a scam worth of Rs.1.8 crores.

A toll booth at Hattargi Plaza on the Maharashtra-Karnataka border on National Highway-4 (NH4) was charging extra toll charges from unsuspecting victims. However, Prashant Burge from Belgaum, an RTI activist has suspected that the toll they are collecting was much higher than the prescribed amount.

With his suspicion and judgment, he wanted to find out whether he was right or not. He filed an application under Right to Information Act (RTI) in 2013. He demanded an investigation into the entire toll structure. Following his application, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) responded and started a high level probe.

They found shocking results, however Burge had already anticipated this. The NHAI found that the booth was overcharging at Rs.20 for motorcycles and Rs.40 for light motor vehicles. The original rates were Rs.15 for motorcycles and Rs.35 for light motor vehicles.

Once the revelation has been made, the NHAI stopped this collection. However, they found that the toll agency, Konark Infrastructure, had already collected Rs.1.8 crore. The entire excess amount has been recovered from the Agency by NHAI as well.

In order to prevent something like this from happening again, the NHAI has put up notice boards at all toll booths asking passengers to collect the excess amount of Rs.5 after producing proof of identity and excess fee charged.

Burge was appreciated by the NHAI and for helping them out, a reward of Rs.10,000 has been approved to him under cash reward scheme. Let us hope nothing like this would repeat again.

Image Reference: TheBetterIndia