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Toll Tales | Motorists argue and drive away without paying toll on Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway: IRB report

The IRB report to the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) says number of errant motorists at toll plazas is very high.

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Either pay toll or face criminal action or cause inconvenience to fellow motorists and get away without paying toll on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway. This is what IRB has reported to the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). But the ground reality is completely different along the Dahisar-Surat National Highway 8.

The report by IRB Surat-Dahisar Tollway Private Ltd mentions that they file complaints against errant motorists who refuse to pay toll and if a law-and-order situation arises.

Motorists from Maharashtra argue with toll collection staff as many are under the impression that the government has waived off toll on several highways. This often leads to heated exchanges and long queues at the booth with people on the wheel not relenting. As per the communication between NHAI and IRB, such instances are frequent.

"The Maharashtra government has exempted Light Motor Vehicles and state-owned buses from paying toll on most state toll projects. Because of this and due to media and social media publicity, car owners and other commuters refuse to pay toll here though the toll plaza is in Gujarat. This has led to high exempt vehicles," reads the letter exchanged between the two agencies (dna has a copy of the letter).

"In spite of all these issues, we are trying our best to collect toll from commuters. Sometimes, these commuters take law into their hands. This has also led to long queues at toll plazas. Considering, the law- and-order situation, we have no option than to allow these commuters to pass the above mentioned toll plaza without payment of toll. We have started filing FIR in local police station against these commuters," mentions the communication.

This new lot of motorists have been labelled as 'violation' or 'non realisable' category by IRB Surat Dahisar Tollway Private Limited. What is surprising is that all types of vehicles find mention under this 'violation' category, which includes buses, trucks, multi-axle vehicles, light vehicles, cars, etc. In just a month, between February 22 and March 20, there have been 60,164 vehicles at Charoti Toll Plaza (near Dahanu) in Maharashtra itself, whose owners have argued and refused to pay toll.

But this count shoots up over three fold at Boriach Toll Plaza, which is around 130 km away from Charoti. Between February 22 and March 20, as many as 2,05,285 vehicles had to be let off after drivers protested paying toll. At Bhagwada, there were 2,70,244 such instances. On this 239-km stretch, there are four toll points – at Boriach, Bhagwada, Charoti and Khaniwade. 

When IRB Infrastructure Developers Limited, the parent company, was approached to know how many FIRs have been registered, the company did share the information. When dna visited these toll plazas to check if the staff really drag errant motorist to the nearest police station, the staff denied it.

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