NH rules amended, no cut in toll even after agreement period
At present, the user fee is collected to recover the cost of the highway project and once the agreement ends, the per cent by the NHAI or its appointed agencies to maintain the road in good condition.
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CHENNAI: Amid continuing demand to do away with toll plazas located close to the city, the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has amended the National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) Rules to allow the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to collect full user fees even after the end of the concessionaire agreement for the highways developed under build-operate-transfer (BOT) model.
At present, the user fee is collected to recover the cost of the highway project and once the agreement ends, the per cent by the NHAI or its appointed agencies to maintain the road in good condition.
The amendments also come at a time when there has been strong demand from various truckers’ association and political parties to reduce the user fee to 40 per cent in the toll plazas where the project cost is recovered.
Activists have been demanding the NHAI to reduce the user fee to 40 per cent in the nine toll plazas on the Tambaram-Tindivanam Highway (Paranur, Athur), Chennai Bypass Road (Vanagaram, Surapattu), Chennai-Tada Highway (Nallur), Chennai-Bengaluru Highway (Sriperumbudur, Chennasamudram), and Madurai-Trichy Highway (Boothakudi, Chitampatti) where it had recovered the project cost.
S Yuvaraj, president of the Tamil Nadu Sand Lorry Owners’ Federation said that his association is strongly opposed to the union government’s latest amendment to do away with the provision to reduce the user fee by 60 per cent. “After the DMK came to power in 2021, the State Highways Minister told the state Assembly that there are 32 toll plazas which are collecting user fees even after the project cost was recovered. There were also demands for closing the toll plazas located within 60 km of each other. But no action was taken by the union government yet,” he said, adding that his association has planned to hold a protest seeking closure of the Paranur toll plaza at Chengalpattu on October 30 following the CAG report expose of irregularities in the user fee collection.
He said that the general body meeting of the State Lorry Owners’ Association would be held on October 18 at Kolathur where the future course of action on the NH Fee rule amendment would be decided.