Gurgaon: toll plazas violate NHAI guidelines

September 9, 2013

HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times Gurgaon,

The Gurgaon councillors have alleged that the two plazas on the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway, located within the municipal limits, violate the NHAI’s guidelines.

“The two toll plazas should be shifted to some other place — beyond the Gurgaon municipal limits. We will launch agitation against the Union and the state governments,” said a local councillor. Councillor RR Rathee told Hindustan Times that the two tolls on the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway and the one on the Gurgaon-Faridabad highway were a big mockery of the NHAI guidelines.

“It seems the governments connived with the concessionaire by allowing it to put up toll plazas,” Rathee said.

It is worth noticing that the notification of the department of road transport and highways, dated December 5, 2008, clearly states that the executing authority or the concessionaire should establish toll plazas at least 10-km from the municipal limit.

“How did these toll plazas came up on the expressway within the Gurgaon municipal limit despite the clearly laid guidelines? The Haryana government should have considered this aspect and lodged protest while the concessionaire had entered into the agreement with the NHAI,” said another councillor.

The Toll Hatao Sangharsh Samiti, a body consisting of local residents and leaders, has already raised this issue in the Delhi High Court.

“We are hopeful that the court will take this aspect into account and bring relief to lakhs of Gurgaon residents. We are leaving no stone unturned to do away with this menace,” said Pushpa Joshi, a social activist.

The Delhi High Court will hear the case on September 20.

Meanwhile, the 35 councillors of Gurgaon are also planning to give a representation to the Union and state governments.

Source-http://www.hindustantimes.com