Haryana industries and commerce minister Capt Abhimanyu on Monday said the state government is yet to find a way to remove the Kherki Daula toll plaza as it was “bound by contractual obligations”.
“The Haryana government is bound by contractual obligations related to the Kherki Daula toll plaza project, which is a time-bound project with a definite concessionaire period under the public-private partnership (PPP) model. Though many industrial associations have raised this issue, we are yet to find a solution for the removal of this toll plaza. However, we are still looking for an answer,” said Capt Abhimanyu, who was in Gurgaon on Monday to attend a seminar — ‘Ease of Doing Business in Gurgaon’.
The minister’s statement comes a few days after senior officials of the Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda), Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) and the deputy commissioner proposed the removal of the toll plaza to Haryana chief secretary D S Dhesi.
The 26-lane Kherki Daula toll plaza, on the Manesar side of Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway, caters to traffic from Gurgaon’s newly developed sectors, IMT Manesar and industrial belts such as Bawal, Dharuhera and Neemrana. Those going to Jaipur also have to cross the toll plaza.
After the Sirhaul toll plaza on the Delhi border of the expressway was razed in February 2014, several industries and citizen groups want the Kherki Daula toll plaza also removed.
“We want the Haryana government to remove the toll plaza and slap a penalty or additional levy on the industrialists, which they would be happy to pay,” Manmohan Gaind of the Manesar Industries Welfare Association, said at the seminar.
The 28-km Gurgaon expressway is run by Millennium City Expressways Private Limited (MCEPL). MCEPL entered into a concessionaire agreement with the NHAI last year and will run the project for eight years — till 2023.
“We did try to work out lot of solutions, but we haven’t zeroed in on any. As of now, there is no solution in sight,” Capt Abhimanyu said.
