Economic Highlights

New Delhi, 7 February 2014

Highway Toll

DAYLIGHT ROBERY INDEED!

By Shivaji Sarkar

Highway toll is igniting India. It is not restricted to Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra, but becoming an all-India phenomenon. The coming elections may see it as deciding the fate of many parties and candidates based on their approach to the issue.

In fact it is becoming more than a political issue. Toll booths are hurting people and the poor the most. This is because it increases the cost of transportation and price of every commodity. Moreover, it is also becoming a serious law and order issue across the country. There are protests in Delhi, Gurgaon and Rohtak in Haryana, Assam, Arunachal, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Gujarat, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and other States over levying toll on roads and highways.

The truckers are protesting the tolls as it delays movements of goods apart from making the cost of transportation more expensive. Each toll takes a minimum of seven minutes to clear and at different booths it can go up to 50 minutes in normal conditions. The much-touted savings on fuel is a myth rather it burns more fuel and takes more time to cover any distance.

Maharashtra is burning. So it is in the news. Chief Raj Thackeray has asked his Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) members to hit back whenever they are asked to pay toll. But this is no less a volatile issue in Karnataka or Tamil Nadu. Even in Mahatma Gandhi’s birthplace Porbandar, people are reported to have taken out guns at toll booths. In UP, not only Samajwadi Party workers but others too have vandalized toll booths on different occasions. Kerala is seeing a explosive movement against tolls, largely supported by Left Parties. In the north-east, in remote Arunachal Pradesh and Assam it is also becoming a burning issue.

The mood against highway tolls can be well gauged in Karnataka. Freedom fighter H S Doreswamy, who joined a movement against collection of toll on highways in mid-January, has alleged that toll collection on highways is daylight robbery by private parties abetted by governments and called upon citizens to protest against it. “An agitation will be organised from Bangalore to Belgaum. Thousands of cars and bikes will take part in it,” he stated.

Importantly, he pointed out that the citizens pay taxes when they buy a vehicle and every time they fill fuel, and therefore are entitled to good roads. “People from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Andhra Pradesh should also participate and make it a big issue from South India’s perspective,” is his clarion call. The tone and tenor is not very different from that of Samajwadi leaders or Thackeray, who says, “Toll companies make huge profits even after the cost of the toll road is recovered”.

That seems to be a fact. Take the example of the DND toll bridge connecting Noida with Delhi. It has reportedly recovered the entire cost in less than three years, but the toll rates go on increasing. This is true of most toll booths across the country. Apparently, Gurgaon toll booth collected Rs 748 crore in two years, according to an RTI inquiry.

For nine toll stations in Kolhapur in Maharashtra, the concessionaire is allowed to collect toll for 30 years on a Rs 420-crore integrated road development project! This has now been put on hold thanks to the violent protests. In Maharashtra alone, the road toll annually fetches Rs 750 crore, according to official figures. So what is the rationale for leasing out for 30 years?

Shockingly, the toll booths in Gurgaon, according to National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), were not reporting 30 per cent of their collections, depriving it of its share. This is stated to be the practice all over the country. Worse toll booths are not audited, allege Thackeray, Doreswamy and even NHAI officials.

On their part, both Central and State Governments maintain that private investment is essential to meet India's growing demand for better roads. The investment thus has increased significantly — from Rs 9000 crore during 2002-2007 to around Rs 60,000 crore during 2007-2012. Developers recover money by collecting toll in their contract period, a uniform rate based on the type of vehicle and grade of road set by Government.

The Government, however, is sitting over Rs 50,000-crore fund collected from 2 per cent cess levied on petroleum products for road development. This apart, the Centre collects a huge fee for giving national permits to truckers, bus and taxi operators.

Every State government and municipal bodies, in addition, collect road tax or cess from each vehicle. Clearly, the government cannot have an alibi of lack of funds and there seems to be little rationale for imposing a toll on a road for 30 years when the cost is recovered in just two to three years.

A public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Nitin Sardesai, MLA from Dadar in Mumbai, and Pune businessman Sanjay Shirodkar states toll rates are abnormally high and not in sync with the rules that placed a bar at 1997 rates for different vehicles. In June 1997, the toll fee for a car was fixed at 40 paise per km, light vehicles 70 paise, a truck or a bus Rs 1.40 and heavy machineries Rs 3 per km.

In September 2006, a UPA government notification raised toll to Rs 65 for 111 km for car; Rs 115 for LCV; Rs 229 for a bus or a truck with a provision to revise it as per the increase in wholesale price index. As per 1997 rates it should be Rs 44 for cars, Rs 77 for LCV and Rs 150 for bus or truck, points out the PIL. It further argues that the 30-year term for toll collection is arbitrary and illegal.

All India Confederation of Goods Vehicle Owners' Associations President Chittranjan Dass insists that “Road development should be oriented towards the need of road users' and not for pampering the concessionaires.” He says that each toll booth costs time, burns additional fuel of thousands of crore rupees and cause losses.

The truckers’ offer of paying Rs 30,000 a commercial vehicle for all-India movement has been ignored by the government, reportedly under pressure from the highway toll mafia of big builders. The investment and maintenance cost if any, say the truckers, would be recovered from the amount paid and that there was no need to have toll booths and hamper movement of traffic. They have also said that this would cover movement of all private vehicles as well.

The commuters are asking for the rationale of why should they pay toll when they are paying thousands of crore by way of taxes. Parliament must put the issue on its agenda, take a serious look at it and correct the situation. Not only will it stop extortion but will also spare the citizenry from unnecessary harassment and make road travel free for integrating the country. ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)