Toll plazas suffer loss of Rs 1.8 crore per day due to farm stir, says Gadkari

The ongoing farmers' protests in New Delhi, Punjab and Haryana has led to the suspension of toll tax collection across the regions since December 2020. Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has pointed out that public-funded toll plazas at highways are facing an estimated loss of Rs 1.8 crore per day.

"Due to farmers’ protest, some of the fee plazas are non-operational, thereby the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is unable to collect user fee from the road users. In case of public-funded fee plazas, an estimated remittance loss is approximately Rs 1.8 crore per day," Gadkari said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha during the Budget Session of the Parliament on Friday.

Earlier, a report by rating agency ICRA claimed that the farmers' protests will cause a Rs 600-crore loss to toll collections.

While the impact on fee collection at some toll plazas began from October 2020 onwards, the same has intensified to no fee collection with the free movement of vehicles at all toll plazas in Haryana, Punjab and Delhi-NCR since December 12, 2020.

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A total of 52 toll plazas, including both public-funded and BOT (built, operate and transfer), on national highways (NHs) in Punjab, Haryana and Delhi-NCR have been directly or indirectly affected due to farmers protests, the ICRA report had noted.

Thousands of farmers have been protesting since late November at Delhi's borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, demanding a rollback of three contentious laws, which they feel would pave the way for the dismantling of the minimum support price system, leaving them at the "mercy" of big corporations.

However, the Centre has maintained that the laws will bring better opportunities to farmers and introduce new technologies in agriculture.

(With PTI inputs)