SC ignored: Toll on potholed Gurgaon-Jaipur highway hiked

JAIPUR: Just days after the Supreme Court had ruled that no toll should be charged on bad roads, commuters would have to pay Rs 18 more to use the Gurgaon-Jaipur highway, where travel continues to be nightmarish due to widening work that's still not finished and several potholed stretches.

With the highway developer hiking the toll on Tuesday, motorists would now have to shell out Rs 233 for a one-way drive on the 226-km stretch — that's more than a rupee for each km on a stretch where widening work has missed several completion deadlines. The decision follows a related case in Rajasthan high court being settled last month.

In a strong ruling last week, the Supreme Court had ordered a Chhattisgarh concessionaire to refund Rs 11 crore collected as toll on a poorly maintained road. "Why should people pay the toll? Should they pay toll for bad roads?" a bench led by Justice T S Thakur had observed.

The brazen toll hike on the Jaipur highway has forced the Rajasthan government to voice its discomfort. "We feel that until work on stretch is complete, developer should have refrained from increasing toll in public interest," PWD minister Yunus Khan said.

The NHAI, however, claimed that more than 90% of the work has been completed. The authority highlighted that at only three-four patches the land acquisition is left which too will be done by the end of September.

A commuter, who used the stretch on Monday, begged to differ with NHAI. "Driving on NH8 remains a nightmare. Not only are there several dusty, narrow diversions, often choked with trucks, even the surfacing of the highway is shoddy in several places," the commuter, not wishing to be named, said.

For cars, jeep and vans the revised rate at Shahjahanpur toll booth is now Rs 124, which is Rs 10 more than earlier toll of Rs 114. Similarly, at Manoharpur, commuters in cars will have to pay Rs 59 instead of Rs 55 while at Daulatput toll Rs 50 against Rs 46.

As per the agreement the developer holds the right to increase the toll rates in September as per the price index decided by NHAI. In 2014, the high court had put the stay on any increase taking the plea that stretch is not in a perfect condition to drive.

"The rates have been increased after a gap of two years. The last revision was done in 2013. The case regarding toll tax, which was pending in the court, was settled on August 11 and court directing the ministry of roadways to take call on the future of the developer, Pink City Express Private Limited (PCEPL). With this order the earlier, stay on the revision of rates too was merged," said Prashant Kumar Sharma, lawyer of PCEPL.

The work to expand the Gurgaon-Jaipur highway had started in April 2009 and the first deadline was to complete it by October 2011. But the deadline was extended from time to time for different reasons including non-availability of land for building flyovers and underpasses and financial mess in the project.

Since the project was awarded as per the 2008 NHAI toll rules, the developer was allowed to charge toll since the day it started work.

In June 2014, NHAI extended the deadline to June 2016 and officials claimed that the project will be "almost complete" by that time. "We may have to delete 11 structures since land is still unavailable," said an NHAI official.

However, the project still requires about Rs 300 crore to complete ongoing work and maintain the stretch. "Banks had stopped releasing their share of loan following poor performance by the developer. Now they have agreed to release their share and the developer has also committed to put its equity," said an NHAI official.



Sources said NHAI, representatives from banks and the developer had a meeting on Wednesday following a recent Rajasthan high court order to find way out to expedite completion of the project within six weeks. "The court had earlier frozen the escrow account of the project and hence no amount could be used for maintenance as well," said an official.

After a sustained campaign by TOI in 2013 against the toll collection while commuters had a harrowing time on this stretch, then NHAI chairman R P Singh had proposed to suspend toll collection on stretches where work had fallen way behind schedule. But the proposal was shot down by the road transport ministry, which said this would lead to major contractual issues.

Times View:

This toll hike clearly goes against the spirit of the Supreme Court's observation on August 25 against collection of toll if the road is in disrepair. The Delhi-Jaipur highway has been a mess for years. Even today it is potholed and marked by bumpy diversions. This toll hike should not only be rolled back, toll on this highway should be scrapped until users are legitimately charged for a well-maintained highway.