CHENNAI: National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has decided to increase user fees by 7 per cent-10 per cent in 20 toll plazas from September 1st. The hike will cost a user an additional Rs 5-Rs 150 depending on the type of vehicle.
The 20 toll plazas are located on Salem-Ulundurpet, Tiruchy-Karur, Ulundurpet-Padalur, Tiruchy-Dindigul, Madurai-Thoothukudi, and on a few other roads. Motorists travelling from Coimbatore to Madurai, Virudhunagar, Thoothukudi and other southern districts or delta districts via Salem will have to shell out an additional Rs 100-Rs 150 a trip.
Notably, this additional expense will be shifted to the consumers by way of an increase in the price of commodities, said AM Vikrama Raja of the State traders association. “The toll system functions like the fuel-pricing one. It never comes down once hiked,” he said.
As of August 1, there are 53 toll plazas on national highways in TN, of which 30 undergo fee revision on April 1 every year and the other 20 on September 1.
Two toll gates at Kallakudi and Managethi on Tiruchy - Kallagam NH became functional in May and June respectively, but their fee revision schedules are yet to be notified. Collection at Manavalanallur toll plaza on Virudhachalam-Chinnasalem NH is yet to begin owing to local opposition.
Concessionaires were permitted to revise user fees as per the contract agreement, said official sources, and it was hiked based on the wholesale price index in accordance with the provisions of National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) Rules, 2008.
As per the official data, the 52 functional toll plazas collected Rs 295.27 crore via FASTag in June. The average daily toll collection was Rs 9.84 crore. The daily vehicle density on national highways is 8.69 lakh. Industry sources said the government must expedite the implementation of the pending proposals to build bypass roads for national highways, especially, on the Salem-Ulundurpet stretch, which witnesses a high number of crashes. Two weeks ago, the stretch witnessed seven crashes on a single day.
“Salem-Ulundurpet NH was neither fully four-lane nor two-lane. It was poorly designed owing to issues in land acquisition. The four-lane road suddenly shrinks into two-lane and confuses motorists,” said
S Sankar of Salem, an automotive engineering consultant.
Fee to be revised AT THESE 20 toll plazas from Sept 1