Travelling through the Gurgaon-Faridabad Expressway toll plaza in Gurgaon is fast turning into a nightmarish experience for commuters, for more reasons than one.
Built by Reliance Infrastructure Limited, the Expressway became operational three years back. However, travelling through this stretch, surrounded by the Aravalli mountains on both sides, is fast losing appeal.
Not only has the volume of traffic increased leading to traffic snarls at the plaza, poor lane management and alleged rude behaviour of the toll staff too has taken away the charm of travelling through this road.
“The traffic situation at the toll is terrible. One ends up spending half-an-hour daily on both sides during rush hours. The toll staff seems unable to deal with traffic jams. The personnel inside the cabins are ill-trained, and there is no security or queue management. We have made several requests to increase the staff, but to no avail,” said Yogender Tanwar, who works with a company in Jhajjar.
Sharing his experience on an online complaint forum, Virender Singh stated: “I was on the way to Faridabad from Gurgaon a week ago when I entered the toll lane. My driver showed the toll pass to the personnel at 10.57 p.m., but he did not open the boom barrier saying his shift was over. I requested him to let me through since I was already in and he was leaving me in the lurch. At this, he started shouting and misbehaving, but did not let me pass. It was really very insulting and should not happen to anyone.”
Sadly, this does not seem like an isolated incident as many commuters have reporter similar experiences, besides rueing poor lane management. Unruly drivers sometimes even break the lane or drive into lanes meant for e-tag holders.
The toll for for cars is Rs.22.50, but many commuters allege the staff does not tender 50 paise in change.
“The staff does not return 50 paisa. They have made it a routine thing now. If about 40,000 cars cross the toll everyday, we are looking at a sum like Rs.20,000 that is unaccounted for daily,” said a commuter on the condition of anonymity.
A Reliance Roads spokesperson said: “We have taken many measures to reduce waiting time near the toll gate. Introduction of token system and promotion of e-tag, where we give away the tag free of cost has also improvised the situation. There is a quantum jump in the number of e-tag lane users from an average 1,500 users to around 4,000 per day. Often, we take assistance from traffic police during peak hours for proper dispersal of vehicles through the toll gate. We also plan to construct three additional lanes and introduce handheld devices for manual checks of vehicles.”
The spokesperson claimed the staff is supplied with adequate change for settlement of toll and regularly provided behavioural training for improving communication skills.
The staff does not return 50 paisa [toll for cars is Rs.22.50]... If about 40,000 cars cross the toll everyday, we are looking at a sum like Rs.20,000 that is unaccounted for daily
