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Bhubaneswar: The state government Monday finally revoked its May 18 notification revising toll fee collection procedure which made payment of toll fee mandatory for bus operators as well as passengers.
“The notification specifying extra fare collection from passengers in different toll plazas in addition to normal bus fare and amount of toll fee to be borne by bus operators is kept in abeyance until further notice,” said a notification issued by the commerce and transport department Monday.
The notification has been withdrawn after bus owners association in the state raised objections to the revision. As per the notification a passenger needs to bear two-thirds of the toll fee while a bus owner would have to pay one-third of the revised fee. A bus owner, thus, has to end up paying Rs 400 to Rs 500 per gate per day. The toll fee is supposed to be collected at eight toll plazas on the national highways managed by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).
However, the private operators have threatened to go off road on the routes where toll gates exist if revised fee was collected.
Meanwhile, the state government officials will conduct a survey of toll gates on different national highways and submit a report to NHAI shortly.
The bus operators have been demanding relocation of gates situated at Manguli, Srirampur, Pipli, Panikoili and Bahargoda as these were not set up as per NHAI guidelines. This has also been admitted by the state government that these gates do not adhere to NHAI Act guidelines which suggest that there should not be any toll gate within a 10-km radius of a municipality, while a minimum distance of 60-km should be maintained between two toll gates.
According to government sources, Manguli on NH 5 is located less than five kilometers from Choudwar municipality.
Panikoili toll gate’s on NH 5 is less than 60-km from Manguli. Pipili on NH 302 is less than four kilometre away from Pipili NAC and Bahargoda plaza on NH 53 is less than four kilometre from Baragarh Municipality.
Srirampur gate on NH-5 does not adhere to NHAI norms and in spite of the decision to shift toll plaza to Marshaghai or Bhutmundai it has not been done so far.
Notably, in 2012 the state government had written to the Centre to shift the five toll gates but in vain, sources added.
When contacted, transport minister Ramesh Chandra Majhi told this newspaper, “We will write to NHAI chairman in this regard by this week-end.”
