No relief from toll on highways; this Union minister says people should pay

Known for his straight talk, Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari said that people should pay if they want good services, ruling out any exemption from toll collection at the national highways. The Union minister said toll collection can "never go" if funds are to be raised for constructing roads under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model.
 
Addressing a function of the PTI employees’ unions in Mumbai on Monday night, Gadkari said, "The toll (collection) will never go. The toll will be there. If you want good services, you will have to pay for it." 
 
Expressing concern over rising instances of road accidents, the minister said his ministry is working towards ensuring safe travel on the highways, adding as many as 1.46 lakh people had lost their lives in 4.60 lakh road accidents across the country in 2017.
 
Notably, NGOs and Opposition parties like the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena have been pushing the demand for toll waiver.
 
Meanwhile, on the sidelines of an event to mark the 50th foundation day of WAPCOS, a consultancy organisation and public sector undertaking under the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Gadkari told reporters in New Delhi today that his departments has given employment to 1 crore youths.
 
The minister asserted that the departments under him have provided employment to one crore youths since the NDA government came to power in May 2014, and assailed the opposition parties for trying to attack the central government on the issue of employment generation. He said the claims made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that his government has created lakhs of jobs are "true".
 
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"What the prime minister has said is absolutely correct. After our government came to power under the leadership of our prime minister, my departments have awarded projects worth Rs 10 lakh crore. And I have statistics to prove that. It has happened in sectors like highways, shipping, port, inland waterways, water resources," Gadkari added.