Delhi's turn to repeat Mumbai on toll front

The violent protests that rocked Mumbai and Maharashtra in the past over the imposition of toll on important roads have spilled over to national capital Delhi. Protests organised by resident welfare organisations and the BJP have finally put the spotlight on one of India's most notorious toll roads in the capital city. dna investigations show that the anger that spilled out on the streets was a result of massive profiteering by the company operating the toll at the expense of daily commuters, who have been forced to shell out more every year.

The Noida toll bridge is a daily lifeline for thousands looking to travel without glaring traffic snarls between South Delhi and Noida. The bridge was completed at a cost of Rs 408 crore in 2001 by Noida Toll Bridge Corporation Ltd (NTBCL) whose parent company is none other than Infrastructure Leasing & Finance Company (IL&FS). IL&FS is an infrastructure and financial services behemoth that has many retired bureaucrats on its board of directors. The toll was supposed to be removed once the company recovered the original project cost of Rs 408 crore with an annual return of 20 per cent or within 30 years, whichever earlier. However, the concession agreement signed between NTBCL, its parent company IL&FS and Noida authorities also states that if the company cannot realise the project cost within 30 years, then the toll on commuters can be extended infinitely.

However, documents accessed by dna show that NTBCL exponentially escalated the toll on the Noida bridge every year, ever since it commenced operations in 2001. As of 2014, the company estimates that it has to recover Rs 3,458 crore from commuters. In 2001, the amount it had to recover was barely Rs 500 crore.

"This is daylight robbery. The toll should be immediately scrapped by the Delhi government as the operator has already made a windfall on the project," says Smita Sharma, one of the many protesters who gathered at the toll bridge on Wednesday morning.

"The company kept adding revenue shortfalls to its total recoverable project cost. The concession agreement allowed the company to keep adding administrative expenses and tax commuters for it," said another protester.

According to documents submitted by the company with the London Stock Exchange (LSE), NTBCL directors estimated that the company might have to recover toll for 70 years. That is more than double the original concession period for which the toll was meant to be levied. However, independent estimates carried out by dna suggest that if the company keeps increasing its recoverable project cost, commuters on the road will never stop paying toll.

In response to dna's queries, K Ramchand, the managing director of IL&FS, said, "Growth in revenue and traffic has been flat and even the economy is not doing good." However, the company's own documents show that the revenue from toll has grown in double digits over the past three years. In fact, ever since the toll road was established in 2001, the revenue from the bridge along with the traffic has increased exponentially.