Economic activity between the north and the south does not seem to have slackened much owing to demonetisation though transportation of heavy machinery between the two regions have decreased significantly. This is evident from the increase in the flow of goods traffic recorded at Pipparwada toll plaza in Adilabad district, the first one in south India from the central parts of the country or the last one in the reverse direction.
As against the average traffic of 3,509 vehicles per day passing this toll plaza in October, 3,721 vehicles crossed its boom barriers on November 25, a fortnight after toll operations were suspended. The average increase in traffic flow for the period between November 10 and December 1 is about 200 vehicles per day, which is significant.
The flow of heavy vehicles with 4 or 6 axles decreased from 867 per day in October to 749 during the suspension period of toll operations. The decrease by about 120 is significant as such vehicles usually carry heavy industrial and construction machinery.
As many as 48 vehicles, categorised as trucks and buses, passed through the facility per day during the suspension of toll operations against the 592 that passed every day in October. These vehicles usually carry commodities and other material of day-to-day use.
The number of vehicles with three axles which transport goods for long distances also remained almost the same at 963. This shows that regular exchange of goods did not suffer owing to cash crunch resultant of the ban on currency notes of higher denomination.
The number of light commercial vehicles moving on either side remained more or less the same at 392 signifying that the goods traffic between Adilabad district and places in Maharashtra across the border was not affected at all by demonetisation. There is also a significant increase in the flow of four-wheelers, from the 912 cars on November 25 against the average traffic per day of 758 recorded in October, which only shows that more number of people made journeys after demonetisation.
