NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party has unearthed a major Toll Tax scam which took place in the MCD under the patronage of BJP. The AAP has alleged that the BJP colluded with two toll tax companies to cause a loss of around 6000 crores to MCD. AAP MLA and MCD In-charge Shri Durgesh Pathak exposed the BJP for looting the funds to be paid to the already bankrupt MCD which came from the hard-earned taxpayers’ money in the form of toll tax in Delhi.
He said, “BJP gave tender to a company named MEP Infrastructure Developers ltd to collect toll tax in Delhi for five years in 2017 for a fee of Rs 1200 crores per year. The company only paid the entire money in the first year; afterwards, it did not pay more than 10 or 20% from next year. BJP-ruled MCD neither cancelled the contract nor took any action against the company for default in payment.
The same tender was given to another company named Sahakar Global Limited in 2021 but this time, the fee was reduced to Rs 786 crores despite increase in toll tax and no. of vehicles in Delhi. The new company is no different from the old one; it only paid about Rs 250 crores to the MCD. Favours from BJP did not stop there.
After reducing the fee, they even gave a discount of Rs 83 crore to the new company. Both the companies have the same owner and managerial staff. They are partners of BJP in the toll tax scam. Aam Aadmi Party demands a detailed and honest investigation of the toll tax scam.”
AAP MLA and MCD In-charge Durgesh Pathak said,“For the past 17 years since BJP has been at the helm of affairs in the MCD, they have done only one job to perfection and that is corruption. So much so that the MCD has got crippled and completely destroyed. MCD is bankrupt and we have provided numerous pieces of evidence to substantiate our claim. AAP has now unearthed another scam related to toll tax collection.
In 2017, BJP gave the tender to collect toll tax to MEP Infrastructure Development Ltd. for a fee of Rs 12 hundred crore annually. The company submitted the fee for the first year and afterwards, it stopped paying the money. From second year onwards, they used to pay 10-20% of the total amount due, he said.
“However, MCD did not take any action against this company. Neither they blacklisted them nor they cancelled any of their tenders. They could have cancelled this tender and issued a new tender to be given to another company. Because of this goof up, nine hundred twenty-one crore which was paid by people of Delhi in the form of toll tax to this company never reached the MCD,” he added.
He added, “More interestingly, they issued a new tender in 2021 after gobbling up the funds and taking their share out of Rs nine hundred twenty-one crore from MEP Infrastructure Development Ltd. The new tender was issued to Sahakar Global Ltd. for the period of three years. It is pertinent to note that earlier in 2017, MCD asked MEP Infrastructure Development Ltd to pay Rs 12 hundred crore annually and in 2021, they asked Sahakar Global Ltd. to pay merely Rs Seven Hundred Eighty Six crore annually.
If inflation and toll tax have increased, the amount to be collected from them should have also increased naturally. Population has increased and so has the number of vehicles. The company would have collected more money. I want to ask the MCD why this amount decreased instead of increasing? It is clear that this is a scam.”
He asserted, “More importantly, the new company is a sister organisation of the old company. The director and managerial staff which runs both the company are the same. They created a new company and the MCD gave them another tender. That too on lesser fees. MCD was so generous that they wrote-off Rs 83 crore to be paid by the company.
The amount of Seven Hundred Eighty Six crore was further lowered to Seven Hundred crore but the new company is not even paying that as well. They have only paid around Rs Two-Three hundred crores. From 2017 to 2022, they should have paid six thousand crore to the MCD. People of Delhi are paying the toll tax diligently but the MCD is unable to recover this money from these companies. All the funds have been gobbled, he said.
Pathak concluded, “It is a major scam and we demand that this should be investigated. The MCD should answer why they lowered the amount to be given by the company. Secondly, it should answer how the tender was given to the companies which are one and the same? If the matter is properly investigated, senior BJP leaders and MCD officials will be in prison. They have looted thousands of crores of taxpayers’ money.”