“How long will they stay ‘temporarily’ closed? They can be rebuilt later. But for now, they should be removed as they are obstructing the highway,” he stated.

On the other hand, the NHAI refuted the allegations of extortion, asserting that there is a chance of reopening the toll plazas, which is why they cannot be taken down. “We also need to confirm whether the complaints being made are legitimate or not, as there should be no issues with the toll booth infrastructure. Some local shopkeepers and hotels may have their own grievances, which they are attempting to address through false complaints,” added Abhijeet Aute, Manager Technical, NHAI (Pune) as told to a news agency.

Aute clarified that the toll booths were closed when they came under the jurisdiction of the National Highway Public Works Department (NHPWD). “The toll booths have been shut for over five years, but this is not a permanent closure due to some pending proposed work. They will be reopened in a few years with the same infrastructure,” he stated.

Dayanand Vibhute, Superintendent Engineer at NHPWD, explained that the shutdown of the toll booths was due to the completion of the concession period of the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) project.

Velankar also highlighted that according to regulations, toll booths are not required to be located less than 60 km apart.

“I have been receiving complaints about miscreants exploiting the closed toll booths at night. There needs to be some planning and action to remove these unused obstacles,” Velankar added.