Free passage was given to vehicles at the Kherki Dhaula toll plaza at regular intervals throughout the day on Saturday to prevent traffic snarls soon after toll collection resumed on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway on Friday midnight.
Though the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) offered commuters various ways to pay the toll such as through the Point of Sale system, e-payment services or through mobile app ‘Highway Saathi’, the toll collection agency officials said that most commuters were giving Rs.2,000 notes, which made it difficult for them to provide change.
Running short on change
“The toll collection was smooth in the morning, but trouble started around noon with the increase in traffic. Most of the commuters started giving Rs.2,000 notes making it difficult to find the change,” said T. C. Rao, the chief managing director of Skylark Group, the company that manages the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway.
Mr. Rao said that the amount of loose change with the toll attendants was likely to be exhausted in another 24 hours. “We have an arrangement with Shri Mata Sheetla Devi Shrine Board, Gurugram, to provide small denomination currency to the tune of Rs.5 lakh daily till December 15. Also, the banks have offered to provide change. But with most of the people offering high-denomination notes, all these arrangements may not work. The consumption for change is almost double the usual days before demonetisation,” said Mr. Rao, adding that only a fraction of the commuters were making cashless payments.
Skylark Group manages several toll plazas across Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana, Mr. Rao said he had received similar reports from these places.
No takers for app
A toll attendant said that payments through mobile or POS system took longer than cash payments causing snarls. “It takes 1-2 minutes to make payment using mobile services or POS leading to jams. The cash payments are fast if loose change is available,” said the attendant. He added that he had not come across any commuter making payment with the ‘Highway Saathi’ app.
Gurugram Police Inspector Hira Singh said vehicles were being given free passage every 20-30 minutes to prevent jams at the toll.
NHAI project director Ashok Sharma told The Hindu that the toll situation was being monitored by the duty magistrate and free passage was being allowed to prevent jams. Mr. Sharma conceded that most commuters were offering high-denomination notes.
“Around Rs.9 lakh in change were paid within hours after the toll collection began around midnight as most of the commuters offered Rs.2,000 notes.”
Mr. Sharma added that more than 10,000 people had downloaded the ‘Highway Saathi’ app.
