Until recently, teams of men would be stationed on National Highway (NH) 8A, barely 600 metres from the National Highways Authority of India’s (NHAI) official toll plaza, and approach passing trucks and cars with an irresistible offer. Instead of passing through the NHAI’s toll plaza, they were told, they could slip out of the highway and pay far less at unauthorised toll booths on either side of the road.
It was a win-win: those manning the illegal toll plaza told motorists that the falo (funds) they were collecting was to build temples in Vaghasia village, while the motorists were happy to be paying far less toll: Rs 50 for trucks and Rs 10 for cars instead of the official Rs 110 and Rs 380/720 (depending on the number of its axle) respectively at the official toll booth. Besides, it was only a 2-km detour after which the motorists could get right back onto the highway while going towards Morbi from Wankaner and barely 200 metres while going towards Wankaner from Morbi.
The Vaghasia toll plaza in Morbi, Gujarat. (Express Photo: Gopal B Kateshiya)
This seemingly dream run came to an end on December 4, when the Gujarat police busted the fake toll booths and booked five men, including the sarpanch and his brother from Vaghasia village, for allegedly forcing motorists to bypass the NHAI toll plaza and “extorting” money from them. An FIR was registered against them at Wankaner town police station under IPC sections related to extortion and criminal intimidation, among others. The five accused are on the run.
The FIR names Vaghasia village sarpanch Dharmendrasinh Zala, whose wife is a BJP member from Wankaner taluka panchayat and was its president till September; his brother Yuvrajsinh Zala; Amarshi Patel alias Amarshi Vansjaliya, the son of Jeram Vansjaliya, a prominent Patidar leader whose family owns the defunct tile factory that was the site for one of the two fake booths; and their accomplices Ravirajsinh Zala and Harvijaysinh Zala. All the accused, except for Amarshi, are residents of Vaghasia village, police said.
A dirt track and some enterprising citizens
Since the busting of the fake toll booth, the NHAI’s booth’s daily toll collection has gone up from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 20 lakh.
A toll collector at the plaza said, “Before December 4, around 7,000 vehicles would pass through daily. That number has increased to 8,500 now.”
The north gate of White House tile factory from where vehicles allegedly entered the illegal bypass. (Express Photo: Gopal B Kateshiya)
The NH 8A connects the ceramic hub of Morbi with the rest of the country. Sources say traffic on the highway increased significantly after the Rajkot international airport became operational with motorists preferring it to the toll-free Rajkot-Morbi state highway that passes through Rajkot city.
Set up by NHAI in 2010, the official toll plaza was handed over to Bamanbore Tollways Pvt Ltd (BTPL), a private entity, in 2018 for 30 years under the toll-operate-transfer (TOT) concession. Since the highway cut through Vaghasia village, villagers travelling to their fields across the highway were allowed to do so through a gadamarag or dirt track that bypassed the official toll booth. Soon, other vehicles going towards Morbi began slipping on to this dirt track to bypass the official booth before hitting the highway again.
That’s when some enterprising Nava Vaghasia residents started levying a toll — in the name of collecting funds to build temples — for motorists using the dirt track to get from Wankaner to Morbi. This continued for 12 years until December 2022, when another ‘toll booth’ cropped up on the other side of the highway, at the premises of White House Tiles Private Limited (WHTPL), a defunct tile manufacturing unit. This was for vehicles coming down from Morbi. Amarshi Vansjaliya, the son of the owner of this tile factory, is among the accused in the case.
As the NHAI started getting complaints about the illegal toll booths, Collector G T Pandya set up a team led by Wankaner Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) A H Sherasiya and comprising Morbi district police officers to investigate reports of the fake toll booths. That’s when the scam was uncovered. Purported drone videos show vehicles taking the illegal bypass through the tile factory.
An executive with a private firm which has been hired by BTPL to run the toll plaza said, “Last December, we started noticing that while many vehicles were visible on the road to the plaza, they would disappear into the factory. These vehicles were not carrying materials for the factory, nor were they leaving the premises loaded. When the number of such vehicles touched 900 daily, we complained to the NHAI. The authority served a notice to WHPTL, asking the company to close all illegal bypasses. Instead of complying with the notice, in June this year, a new passage was opened for vehicles that went around the tile factory’s shed.”
BTPL director Pavan Parikh did not respond to calls and text messages from The Indian Express seeking his comments.
The kaccha road in Nava Vaghasia where the accused collected toll illegally. (Express Photo: Gopal B Kateshiya)
Jitendra Choudhary, director of NHAI’s project implementation unit (PIU) in Gandhidham, Kutch, said, “NHAI is investigating when the two illegal passages became functional. A committee has been constituted by the Wankaner SDM to investigate the case.”
Harmendra Singh Rotraval, director of NHAI’s Rajkot PIU said, “The (illegal) passage through Nava Vaghasia side was around for a long time. We tried to shut it down multiple times, but the locals refused to cooperate. The other passage, through the tile factory premises, was brought to our notice just a year ago. Only local vehicles used the illegal passage at first, but traffic increased heavily over time.”
Support for the accused and some ‘social’ work
At Nava Vaghasia village, there is a visible sense of unease. For now, villagers and local BJP workers are rallying behind sarpanch Dharmendrasinh Zala and his brother Yuvrajsinh, who are the main accused in the case and are on the run.
When asked about their support for the illegal toll booths, a villager in Nava Vaghasia, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Indian Express, “The funds collected over the past 10 years were never misused. That money was used to build four temples and a cricket ground in the village. The sarpanch would also help poor villagers with marriage expenses.”
A BJP worker from Wankaner said Dharmendrasinh was a victim of local party politics.
On December 6, Jeram Vansjaliya, whose son Amarshi has been named as an accused in the case, held a press conference defending his son. “My family had leased the factory premises to a private entity. We were not aware of any illegal activities taking place there. My son had no role to play at the factory,” he said. Jeram had acted as one of the mediators between the BJP-led state government and protesting Patidar leaders during the 2016 reservation stir.
The water tank near which the illegal toll booth was set up in Nava Vaghasia. (Express Photo: Gopal B Kateshiya)
A police officer, however, said, “The investigation so far has revealed that the tile factory’s owners leased out only the shed and not the entire factory. The four leaseholders have stated in their statements that they had nothing to do with vehicles plying illegally through WHTPL premises and that they were using only the shed for storing ceramic tiles and sanitaryware items.”
When The Indian Express visited the toll plaza on December 12, private security guards and police constables were seen manning the four entry and exit points of the two illegal bypasses.
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