Bengaluru (ANI): Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) state communication in-charge Brijesh Kalappa on Tuesday demanded closure of toll plazas in Karnataka, mentioning that AAP’s Punjab government has so far closed eight toll plazas and Karnataka should follow similarly.

Addressing a press conference at the party’s state office, Brijesh Kalappa said, “Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann are going to each toll plaza and checking. They are verifying – What was in the PPP type agreement, how much money should have been collected, how much money has been collected, which toll should have been stopped, and later they are taking appropriate action. Eight toll plazas have been shut down since the Aam Aadmi Party government came to power in Punjab. But in Karnataka, for the greed of commission, the toll plazas continue to function despite the expiry of the period. Action should be taken against many expired tolls, including the Tumkur toll plaza where 20 years tenure has elapsed. The tolls are added burden to the people who are already troubled by the hike in petrol prices.”

Targeting the Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state, he said, “We had said that the Bangalore-Mysore Expressway is not a ten-lane but a six-lane one. Later the government also accepted this. Toll was not levied when the highway was converted from 2 lanes to 4 lanes. In the same way, even now when 6-lanes are made from 4 lanes, it should have helped the common people without charging toll. It would have then made sense if the government had boasted of giving roads for free. While the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi has opened swimming pools in government schools, swimming pools are getting created on their own on the roads developed by BJP government.”

“In 2019-20, senior IAS officer Anil Kumar was the commissioner of BBMP. It is almost certain that he will be the BJP candidate in Koratagere assembly constituency. There were three major irregularities during his tenure as BBMP Commissioner. Rs 31.6 crore for smart parking was sanctioned. Although it does not cost that much money, an additional Rs 2 crore was released. Anil Kumar has released it to the contractor company by name Buildings Control Solution India Pvt Ltd.,” alleged Brijesh Kalappa.

“When Anil Kumar was the commissioner, there was a problem in the removal of rainwater silt. The contract for eight zones was awarded to a single firm named M/s. Yoga and Company at a cost of Rs 36 crore. Since the work was not done properly, Bengaluru had to face floods. People’s tax money has been looted by releasing more money than required,” Kalappa added.

“When Anil Kumar was commissioner, BBMP spent Rs 969 crore for the work of tube wells. There should be a proper investigation done into how such huge amount of money should be used. In this, Rs 49 crores was spent only in one place. Apart from this, a treatment center was opened at the International Warehouse for the treatment of Covid. A huge amount of illegality has also taken place by spending crores of rupees on beds etc. Irregularities worth Rs 1300 crores have taken place when Anil Kumar was Commissioner. We will file a complaint with the Lokayukta to investigate into these matters,” said Brijesh Kalappa.