E-way changes leave many unhappy

On Wednesday, the Delhi high court had approved a consent order to remove the toll plaza at Sirhaul

Karan Sehgal is an unhappy man. When he passes through the toll gate at Manesar from Friday, he has to pay 80 per cent more. “Why should people commuting between Manesar and Gurgaon pay such an exorbitant rate?” he asks.

With the government deciding to do away with toll collection for the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway at Sirhaul, those driving between the adjoining cities were a jubilant lot on Thursday. But by evening, heavy traffic jams en route for Gurgaon clogged the area.

By contrast, with the toll gate at Manesar retained and the toll here increased to make good the loss in revenue, a sombre mood prevailed at the Manesar toll gate. On Thursday, however, commuters continued to pay the previous toll of Rs 25 (not the revised toll of Rs 56), as the systems here hadn’t been updated. Subsequently, long queues of vehicles forced authorities to stop collecting toll to ensure speedy clearance of traffic.

With vehicles zooming past the toll gates at the Delhi-Gurgaon border, the only employees at the toll gate here were 11 young men employed by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to collect tax from commercial vehicles at four of the plaza’s 32 gates. A few policemen kept vigil to ensure commercial vehicles paid the tax. That apart, empty cabins with monitors turned upside down signalled the end of a six-year toll-collection period, when the gates were often criticised for causing massive traffic jams.

On Wednesday, the high court here had approved a consent order between IDFC Ltd, DSC Ltd and the National Highways Authority of India to remove the toll plaza at Sirhaul, after IDFC was allowed to take over the project. The court also approved a revision in toll rates at the gate in Manesar. Subsequently, the road ministry gave a nod to an 80 per cent rise in toll rates.

 

Commuters may have more to cheer, since time has been saved. But for the national capital region which does not sources essential commodities such as vegetables from rural areas of adjoining Haryana, the revised fares will only mean that the logistics costs remain the same.