NHAI suffers toll loss of Rs 2,731 crore due to farmers protest

State-owned National Highways Authority of India suffered a revenue loss of Rs 2,731.32 due to the farmers' protests in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, Parliament was informed on Wednesday.

Replying to a written question in the Rajya Sabha, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said the protest started affecting toll collection from October 2020.

He said initially the toll plazas in Punjab were made non-operational by agitating farmers in October 2020.

"It eventually spread to neighbouring states of entire Haryana and parts of Rajasthan. Overall 60 to 65 NH toll plazas were affected due to farmer agitation resulting in loss of toll collection of Rs 2,731 crore," the minister said.

Gadkari said MoRTH and NHAI have made continuous efforts to operationalize the affected toll plazas through active communication with state administration, help of toll collecting agency etc.

Replying to a separate question, Gadkari said the ministry has set a target of construction of 12,000 km of National Highways during the Financial Year 2021-22, under various projects, out of which some are targeted to be completed in 2021.