The Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway concessionaire Millennium City Expressway Private Ltd (MCEPL) on Wednesday said that 19 of the 21 lanes at Kherki Daula toll plaza had been converted into FASTag lanes and the remaining two would remain cash lanes. However, six extended lanes, also called canopy lanes, would continue to collect cash from drivers of vehicles, even though complete online fee collection has been mandated by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
The plea given by the MCEPL, the highway concessionaire, is that the canopy lanes were not part of the original toll agreement and were created later to facilitate the movement of vehicles.
As per the agreement between the MCEPL and the NHAI signed in 2014, the Kherki Daula toll plaza had 18 lanes and an additional two were to be constructed, which increased the number of lanes at the toll plaza to 20 in 2014. Seeing the flow of vehicles at the toll plaza, an additional lane was added, taking the number of lanes to 21. Six additional canopy lanes were made between 2015 and 2017.
The MCEPL said that it was not counting the additional six canopy lanes constructed after the agreement as they were additional and beyond the scope of the concession agreement.
On December 15, the NHAI implemented the FASTag system in 19 lanes at the toll plaza. The NHAI had released a statement on January 4 that said, “All lanes at the Kherki Daula toll plaza will be made as FASTag lanes except for two lanes (number 22 and 28). These two will remain as cash lanes (sic)”.
On Wednesday, the concessionaire of the expressway said that FASTag implementation had been completed. S Raghuraman, CEO, MCEPL, said, “There are 21 lanes at the Kherki Daula toll plaza on paper, but an additional six lanes were constructed by us. The NHAI has implemented FASTags in 19 lanes at the toll plaza, except only two lanes on both sides for cash.”
A senior NHAI official in privy to the matter confirmed that “Of 21 lanes, FASTag has been implemented in 19 lanes.”
Ashok Sharma, project director, NHAI Gurugram, refused to comment on this matter.
In 2017, the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway removed lane number one so that vehicles could move towards the three additional canopy lanes merely 150m ahead of the plaza on the Jaipur-Delhi side. Toll booths were made on these lanes by the concessionaire to increase the amount of toll collection and facilitate the movement of vehicles.
“The toll booths additional six lanes constructed by us will continue to collect cash and the lanes won’t be converted into FASTag lanes,” Raghuraman said.
However, the MCEPL wrote a letter of approval to an independent consultant (IC) on Wednesday so that they could make recommendations to the NHAI, Gurugram, that all 21 lanes at the plaza be considered for the FASTag implementation. Officials privy to the development said that the letter will be sent to the NHAI headquarters for approval before January 15—the final date of the complete implementation of FASTags.
On January 7, 66,827 vehicles crossed the Kherki Daula toll plaza, with 18,345 paying cash, 27,027 by FASTags and 420 electronically (Paytm). Toll plaza officials said that there was a considerable amount of commuters who were paying in cash at Kherki Daula toll plaza.
Anish John, systems manager, MCEPL, said, “There are many users who are still paying the toll in cash, so there is a need to keep more cash lanes.”
NHAI officials refused to comment when asked how six additional lanes could be used as cash lanes.
