Tamil Nadu: Industry worried over rising logistics costs amid economic slowdown
The stakeholders demand that at least once a ten-year toll road contract expires for a toll plaza, the government should take over and manage it, lessening the burden on commuters
Toll plaza at Kappalur on Madurai-Tirunelveli Highway
MADURAI: Truck operators and entrepreneurs of south Tamil Nadu are worried about the proposed toll fare hike, which comes into effect from Monday, as logistics costs are set to balloon hitting the industry hard, which is already said to be reeling under severe strain.
Most of their shipments largely originate from Thoothukudi seaport and travel through innumerable tolls till they reach destinations such as Tirupur, making any hike large in proportion.
JP Joe Villavarayar, president, Tuticorin Port Transport and Equipment Owners Association says, a five per cent hike in toll itself is harsh to manage. “Prior to the hike, toll charges alone amounted to Rs 3,500 for a cargo trailer from Thoothukudi to Tirupur. With the revised toll fee, the charges escalate further and it would heavily weigh down on consumers, ultimately,” he said.
Despite bearing the brunt of extraordinary hike in diesel prices, road tax and GST on cargo transportation, the truck operators are now forced to shoulder the burden of toll fare hikes, says Joe Villavarayar. “Once in three months, a cargo trailer is charged Rs 11,000 on road tax. We have to add toll fare to that. Despite all such extracting, us some stretches of highways are kept awfully bad,“ Villavarayar told DT Next.
The stakeholders demand that at least once a ten-year toll road contract expires for a toll plaza, the government should take over and manage it, lessening the burden on commuters. “There’s no point in allowing the concessionaire to collect the toll once he recovers all the money invested,“ Villavarayar added.
Amid reduced cargo volume, and dwindling exports tthe annual hike in toll fare is seen as a last nail in the coffin, say industry representatives.
"Lack of rainfall in many states, especially in Karnataka have hit truck owners as huge cargo of cotton bales is usually transported from the state. Drastic fall in the production of salt in Tuticorin, which was once transported to most of the South Indian states, is also one another sore point,” says K Samuel, former president of Tuticorin Lorry Owners Association.
