Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 15: National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) today said that in order to smoothen and proper regulation of the traffic at Toll Plaza Sarore it has issued directives to toll collecting agency to deploy more personnel at Toll Plaza.
Besides, NHAI has also directed the toll collecting agency to ensure proper uniforms with name plate and safety jackets. To allay the fears of transporters the Project Director of NHAI, Jammu Ajay Kumar Rajak at a press conference today said that the process has been started to issue monthly passes to commuters which will help to minimize the congestion. The number of toll booths will be increased for free traffic congestion on NH at Sarore TP, he added.
He said NHAI officials are also deployed round the clock to supervise the toll operation and for close monitoring and watch for smooth and hassle free functioning of plaza.
Rajak said that the traffic is being smoothened and reduced day by day. On the first day the traffic congestion was due to people not being ready to pay the user fee, hence with the argument by the road users there was traffic congestion which has now been significantly reduced. Further the NHAI has started using hand held machine etc, besides normal toll booth slip. Moreover, the NHAI has allotted dedicated lane for buses, trucks, LMV and Exempted and VIP lanes, he added.
NHAI Director also justified collecting fee from road users. In this regard he quoted the statement of Union Minister for Road and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, who has said “as we are constructing more roads we will move forward with the target that in the next five years , the income from toll will rise to Rs one lakh crore every year. If we get such revenue we can get loans from banks and raise more money from markets and invest in more projects”. He also informed that at present there are 527 toll plazas of NHAI in India with current annual toll income of Rs 30,000 crore. This income apart from the taxes is used for the repayment of debt, maintenance of highways and further development of new highways.
Rajak said in J&K there are four toll plazas including Thandikhui Toll Plaza with an annual income of Rs 46.20 crore, Bann Toll Plaza Rs 62.2 crore, Mada and Nashri Toll Plaza with an income of Rs 34.4 crore and Kachkoot Toll Plaza with an income of Rs 52.8 core. The total toll earned by them annually is Rs 195.6 core, he added.
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