PAC raises concern over excessive toll collection on National Highways

MPs also questioned as to why toll plaza operators on National Highways were not providing passenger amenities as mandated in agreements.

New Delhi: The Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Wednesday raised concerns over toll plaza operators on National Highways not providing passenger amenities as mandated in agreements besides not taking steps to ease movement of vehicles and asked the officials to provide more details on steps taken to address it.

At a meeting of the panel headed by senior Congress MP KC Venugopal to discuss 'Levy and regulation of fees, tariffs, user charges etc on public infrastructure and other public utilities', MPs cutting across party lines raised issues related to excessive toll collection on National Highways.

Transport Secretary V Umashankar, National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) Chairman Santosh Kumar Yadav and senior officials of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways briefed the panel.

Sources said MPs questioned why the government and toll plaza operators were not taking measures to ease traffic jams and crowding of vehicles near toll plazas. They also wanted to know what action has been taken against erring operators who have not provided amenities like toilet facilities and accident helpline.

As an example, the issue of Paliyekkara toll plaza in Kerala from where around Rs 1,506 crore was collected as toll was shared in the meeting. 

Sources said several operators have not provided amenities as per agreement like setting up accident helpline, marking black spots and accident prone areas and maintenance of roads. Some MPs also said that the authorities are not properly collecting penalties from operators for shortcomings.

The Ministry and NHAI officials told the panel they are exploring the possibility of introducing annual toll passes so that there will be no traffic troubles near toll plazas. At present, a pilot project of automatic number recognition system has been installed on Dwarka Expressway.

Sources said the PAC has suggested revising the existing rules on toll collection.