KOLKATA: Struggling to run 70-odd welfare schemes in the state, Mamata Banerjee’s cash-strapped and industry-starved government, which was against levying user charges on roads as it could place additional on common people, identified 28 state highway stretches where tolls can be levied shortly for the first time in the state.
The Public Works Department (PWD), the agency that looks after state highways, identified the stretches where toll tax can easily be levied and the department has also started initiatives to construct toll plazas on these stretches.
The decision was significant as whenever a proposal was placed before Mamata for levying user charges on roads recently, she rejected the idea. Burdened with Rs 70,000 crore debt, the Bengal government last September passed a Bill in the Assembly to amend the West Bengal Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2010, to enhance its borrowing capacity.