Travelling on National Highway 1 has become costlier. People driving from Delhi to Chandigarh will have to shell out more money as toll tax. The toll charges are now fixed at Rs 154 for 257 km, the distance between the two cities. On the other hand, travelling from Amritsar to Delhi will cost Rs 218 for a distance of 455 kilometres. From Chandigarh to Amritsar, for a distance of 235km, one has to pay Rs 133 as toll. From Chandigarh to Hoshiarpur (heavily tolled road) for 135 km, one pays Rs 157 and from Chandigarh to Delhi for 250 km one pays Rs 154. It comes to an average 50 paisa per kilometre.
Unfortunately, the smart tag facility which was to be started on this highway by Union Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways has not seen the light of the day. The ambitious smart tag-based electronic toll collection (ETC) system has not taken shape due to the numerous road blocks owing to the ongoing construction work on the Highway. While commuting from Delhi to Amritsar, one had to pay toll tax at five places Panipat, Tarawari, Shambhu, Beas and Manawala. Adding to the woes is the bumpy road on this stretch. To avoid the rough travel people are virtually driving on a slip roads from Delhi to Punjab, as the construction work is delayed for another six months. The Punjab and Haryana High Court had fined the company building the project. The growing number of toll tax barriers worsens the situation. It is becoming an irritant for the commuters who are already paying the VAT on vehicle, road tax and cess on fuel. “We pay so many taxes at the time of vehicle registration. Then we pay so much for toll tax. Why this double taxation?” asks Shalinder Walia, a daily commuter.
As per the rules, a toll barrier can be at a distance of less than 60 km. However, according to the concessionaire agreement, the companies have been authorised to raise barriers at every 5kms if people use alternate roads to evade toll tax.
Delhiites travelling in Punjab won’t have it easier. In Punjab, where people are already coughing up money at 15 toll barriers, sixteen more barriers are likely to come up. The 13 out of 15 roads which already have the toll barriers have an estimated cost of over Rs 622 crore. The roads being upgraded under Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) terms and will have toll plaza include Ludhiana-Ferozepur Road to National Highway-1 via Ladhowal, Morinda-Kurali-Siswan up to Haryana Border Road, Kapurthala-Nakodar-Phillaur Road, Kotkapura-Muktsar Road, Batala to Meta Road and Tanda- Hargobindpur Road. Some roads coming up along various canals will also be having toll plazas. Bridges at Mattewara, Dhanoya Pattan, Chakki Nadi and on Satluj near Gidarpindi will see barriers coming up.
Sensing the public outcry, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal recently approved the revised toll policy aimed at the rationalising the toll rates besides enhancing the user acceptability in the state. According to the Revised Toll Policy, minimum road toll charges would be reduced to Rs 15 for the new toll roads. Likewise, the toll rate for structures (Flyovers or RoBs) would be now linked with the cost of the structure instead of length, which would tremendously reduce the toll rates.
As of now, only 40 per cent of the wholesale price index (WPI) would be taken into account while revising the toll rate after every year. This is apart from a fixed component of a 3 per cent annual increase which was 10 per cent in earlier policy. It was also approved that for the Daily Pass validity based on one calendar day in the existing policy, 24 hour period from the issuance of the toll slip would be considered and for the frequent users, 25 per cent discount would be given instead of present discount of 20 per cent. The validity for the monthly pass would also consider valid for 30 days from the date of issuance.