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This is an archive article published on December 4, 2016

Operations resume at toll booths after 22-day break: Toll tax is back, so are lengthy traffic jams

As dozens of cars queued up at toll plazas in the morning hours, staffers had little choice but to forego the toll and let some cars pass to decongest the clogged expressway

Pune, pune toll, toll booth, toll tax, maharashtra toll tax, pune toll tax, Khalapur, latest news, latest india news Vehicles queue up near the Urse toll booth on Saturday morning and (below) a staffer accepts credit card from a motorist at the toll booth.

AFTER a break of 22 days, toll booths on state highways as well as the Pune-Mumbai Expressway resumed work Saturday, and traffic on these busy lanes took the hardest hit in the morning hours. While the traffic situation largely returned to normal by afternoon, vehicles, delayed at the toll plazas, moved slower than usual throughout the day, said police.

Early in the morning, as dozens of cars queued up at the toll plaza, staffers had little choice but to forego the toll and let some cars pass, to decongest the clogged expressway.

Later in the day, several motorists were seen paying the road tax with their credit or debit cards, while toll booths, which earlier accepted only cash, accepted the payment using newly-installed POS machines.

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At toll plazas on Pune-Mumbai Expressway, in Urse and Khalapur, staffers collected the tax amid heavy police presence. While some motorists insisted on paying with Rs 2000 notes, toll staffers urged them to pay with cards or Rs 100 notes, as they didn’t have enough change.

In certain cases, when the motorists claimed they had nothing but a Rs 2000 note, and the toll staffer had no change, the latter allowed the former to cross the toll plaza without paying the money. “The toll collection restarted from midnight. There was some traffic on the roads, due to the weekend, and because it takes time to accept payment at the toll booths. We have installed the POS machines at all booths and we encouraged people to go for cashless transactions. Many of those who initially gave us Rs 2000 notes were convinced by us to use cards,” said Vivek Devasthali, head of corporate communications, IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd.

According to the Expressway Police, traffic was unusually heavy between 8 am and 10 am, as paying with cards or large-denomination notes took a comparatively longer time. “There were queues at the Khalapur and Urse toll booths, but they disappeared after 10 am. It was business as usual in the later half of the day,” said a policeman.

Traffic again slowed down in certain lanes when heavy vehicles, which had waited near the Khalapur Plaza since 7 am, were allowed to hit the road by police at noon. As per a recent rule, heavy vehicles are not allowed to cross the Khalapur Plaza between 5 pm to 10 pm on Friday evening and 7 am to noon on Saturday morning. Meanwhile, several motorists expressed relief that the toll plazas had decided to accept cards. “It’s a relief… otherwise, giving them cash, which has become so precious these days, would have been a headache,” said Nimish, who was travelling with his friends from Mumbai to Pune.

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Bus services delayed ALMOST all the state transport buses operating between Pune and Mumbai were running about an hour late Saturday. The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) authorities said the delay was being caused by slow moving traffic on the Expressway.

“The traffic was slow on the E-Way and hence the delay caused in the morning had a cascading effect on bus services, which have been delayed by an hour,” said a traffic manager with Swargate Depot of MSRTC.


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