A large number of motorists have been avoiding the Dwarka expressway after the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) began toll collection at the Bijwasan plaza on November 9, the highway operator said on Thursday.
A highway toll official said the average number of vehicles using the expressway daily had dropped from 120,000. to merely 40,000 to 50,000 — a staggering fall of nearly 60%. The average number of commercial trucks on the expressway had also gone down from 15,000 to about 2,000 — primarily to avoid paying toll at the Bijwasan plaza.
The NHAI had on November 9 started toll collection at the Bijwasan plaza and notified the toll charges, according to which car users will pay ₹220 for a one-way trip through the Bijwasan toll plaza, while the fee for a return journey will cost them ₹330. A monthly pass for 50 trips will cost ₹7,360.
Majority of the vehicles avoiding the Dwarka expressway are now using the Delhi-Jaipur highway, the upper Dwarka expressway, and the Bijwasan to Delhi road, said officials.
Meanwhile, highway officials said they had issued 4,000 monthly toll passes to local commuters to facilitate their travel.
However, the toll official added that it would stop holding camps for monthly passes in local residential societies as one of its teams faced misbehaviour from residents of an upscale society on Dwarka expressway and the issue will be raised with concerned NHAI officials.
A senior NHAI official said that they will take up the matter with district administration to ensure security for the staffers of toll operators, who are holding camps in residential societies for making monthly camps. “We will take up the matter with district administration to provide security in the camps.
Speaking about a key challenge at the plaza, a highway toll official said: “A major issue arising at the Bijwasan toll plaza is that a large number of commercial trucks either don’t have an active FASTag system or their FASTag wallets have been blacklisted. As a result, several vehicles get stuck at the plaza, causing congestion.
“Earlier, these trucks only paid the MCD toll, but now they are also charged a highway toll. So, these vehicles take a U-turn from the toll plaza itself to avoid the fee, which causes severe inconvenience to others,” the official said, adding that they are working to fine-tune the system at the plaza, particularly the functioning of the RFID readers on 34 lanes. The toll operator has also started cash paying lanes to facilitate the movement of vehicles.