The announcement of a hike in toll rates on NICE Road has attracted the ire of the Public Works Department (PWD) which issued a notice to Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises on Friday seeking its response in seven days on why rates had been hiked without the approval of the State government.
According to Lakshminarayana M. principal secretary, PWD, NICE authorities were supposed to have sent a proposal for hiking the toll to the State government for approval. This was not done. “We have sent them a notice and given them seven days to respond. They are supposed to send the proposal to the government. If there is no response within 30 days, then the new rates are deemed to be notified. However, no proposal has been sent,” he said.
Additionally, the framework agreement between the government and NICE has been challenged in the High Court of Karnataka. In such a situation, Mr. Lakshminarayana said that the hike in toll rates was unilateral.
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While NICE authorities refused to comment, the toll concession agreement signed between the government and NICE states that the latter can revise the toll ‘at such time and intervals as it considers appropriate’. Further clauses also state that the State government would issue notifications of revised rates within 30 days of receiving the notice from the company. The notice would specify the revised rates. If no government notice is issued, the new rates would be deemed as accepted and approved. It is this notice the government is claiming it did not receive.
The rates were revised in July for the first time since 2013 on the private road. Toll rates for cars saw an increase of as much as ₹7 on some routes and ₹4 on others. The corresponding increase for heavier vehicles was higher which could lead to a fare hike in BMTC buses that ply on this road.