Traffic in the National Capital Region was thrown out of gear on Saturday when commercial vehicles entering Delhi from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh were asked to pay a new environment compensation charge.
The Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway saw a nearly 10-km-long traffic jam due to delays in crossing the toll tax booths. The private toll tax concessionaire employed by Delhi’s civic bodies started collecting Rs.700 and Rs.1,300 as ‘green tax’ as per the Supreme Court orders from midnight. Though the Court had ordered the contractor to start collecting Economic Compensation Charge (ECC) from November 1, SMYR Consortium only agreed to so on Friday night.
Sharing his experience, truck driver Guddu, said he remained stuck in the jam for five hours.
“I was at Rajiv Chowk around 12.30 a.m., but managed to reach the toll plaza only around 5.30 a.m. It took me over five hours to travel 10 km,” said Guddu, who was carrying hangers from Naharpur village to Noida.
In Delhi, the police had made arrangements from November 1, when the green tax was supposed to come into effect, said Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Muktesh Chander.
“Though we always have staff posted at all borders, we had made arrangements from November 1 onwards. We also informed districts to make the provisions,” added Mr. Chander.
In Gurgaon, bumper-to-bumper traffic extended from the toll collection point to Rajiv Chowk, with truckers stuck in the jam for five to seven hours.
The traffic only cleared up around 7.30 a.m. after the police made the agency suspend collection of tax for almost an hour and opened the boom barrier.
The traffic, mostly trucks, started piling up soon after midnight on Friday at Delhi’s borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
“Since the tax was introduced for the first time, many truck drivers were not aware of it and refused to pay. It led to heated arguments between the attendants and drivers,” said Jeevan Chaudhary, flying in-charge of the Gurgaon toll plaza.
He added that attendants took more time to check bills and find out whether they were carrying materials for which they are exempted from paying the tax, like vegetables and milk.
“The toll plaza attendants now have to collect two separate taxes and they are not even trained to do so. All these factors led to delay in collection of tax and a huge jam was caused,” Mr. Chaudhary said.
In view of the long traffic snarls, the Gurgaon Police made arrangement to divert traffic from Bilaspur to other routes and also requested Rewari and Alwar districts to assist in a similar manner, said Gurgaon Police Spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner of Police Hawa Singh.
Toll-attendant Sanjay said the situation may continue over the next few days to come.
“It will take a few days for awareness to spread among truckers and the toll-attendants to get trained. The situation may worsen during day time, when the entry of vehicles is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.,” Sanjay added.
I was at Rajiv Chowk around 12.30 a.m., but managed to reach the toll plaza only around 5.30 a.m. It took me over five hours to travel 10 km
