MNS workers vandalize toll booths in Thane on Raj Thackeray's orders

THANE: At least half a dozen toll plazas were vandalized by suspected MNS activists here after party chief Raj Thackeray asked workers not to pay toll tariff and "crush" the toll gates.

A toll booth at Dahisar check-post was raided by a group of MNS activists on Sunday night and damaged, according to Thane rural police.

Elsewhere in Kalyan, several toll booths in Kalyan were raided by suspected MNS men led by local MLA Prakash Bhoir, police sources said, adding offences have been registered against miscreants under various sections of the IPC.

In rural Thane, there are 8 toll booths and in the commissionerate there are five, police said.

The attack came after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Sunday night asked workers and citizens not to pay even a single penny as toll tariff in the state even if it meant that they had to resort to violence to prevent it.

"If there is any instances just crush the toll nakas. If there is a traffic jam let it be, let the situation take its own course. Do not bother just don't pay toll in any of the toll booths," Raj said.

Additional force has been deployed at all these nakas, police said.

This is not the first time that the party has agitated against toll booths.

On January 16, an MNS legislator was among 20 people arrested for allegedly vandalizing a toll booth in Dombivili township of Thane district.

The MNS has been since sometime opposing the collection of toll in the state without providing any amenities and better services to the citizens.

Earlier, suspected Shiv Sena activists had vandalized four toll booths in Maharashtra's Kolhapur city on January 12.

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