CHENNAI: Effective from June 3, user fee for 36 toll plazas in the state be increased, affecting major highways leading out of Chennai. This toll hike, postponed due to parliamentary elections, will impact routes to key cities such as Trichy, Madurai, Coimbatore, and Bengaluru.
The fee increase ranges from 5 to 20 for various vehicles, including private cars and buses. Specific toll plazas undergoing revision include Paranur (Chengalpet), Vanagaram, and Surapattu (Chennai Bypass Road), Athur, Krishnagiri, and Vaniyambadi.
The move to increase the toll fee at Paranur has garnered criticism from regular users of the Chennai-Trichy national highway. S Yuvraj of the Tamil Nadu Truck Owners' Association said, "If the Union road transport ministry kept its promise, this toll plaza would have been shut by now. They started collecting fees here in 2005 and should have realized the capital cost a long time ago."
Notably, the NHAI had earlier informed the Parliament that none of the toll plazas in Tamil Nadu are eligible for the 60% waiver as capital cost has not been realised in any of the highway stretches maintained by them. It will continue to revise toll charges based on the wholesale price index.
However, the central agency will not increase the fee at the Nemili (Sriperumbudur) and Chennasamudram (Walajapet) toll plazas due to ongoing six-lane road expansion works. This project has been long pending and has caused frequent accidents.
Ideally, the toll fee would have been revised on April 1 every year, but this was deferred due to the elections.