Almost Rs 12,000 crore collected as toll on Jaipur-Delhi highway, MP asks: ‘Why should common man pay when condition so poor?’

He had said that if so, the Ministry should provide “the details of toll tax collected and the construction cost of the said highway; whether despite Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh having more NHs than Rajasthan, the toll tax collection in Rajasthan is higher than in these two states and if so, the reasons therefore; and whether the Government is aware that despite toll tax collection, several NHs in Rajasthan are in a deteriorated condition and if so, the justification for toll tax collection on such roads”.

In his reply, Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said that on the Gurgaon-Kotputli-Jaipur stretch – with the project’s appointed date being April 3, 2009 – Rs 9,218.30 crore has been collected as user fee, while a sum of Rs 6,430 crore was incurred on the project.

For the Delhi-Gurgaon stretch – with an appointed date of January 12, 2003 – Rs 2,727.50 crore has been collected as user fee while Rs 2,489.45 crore has been incurred on the project.

This brings the total user fee collected on the Jaipur-Delhi stretch to Rs 11,945.80 crore, while Rs 8,919.45 crore has been incurred on the road projects.

The Ministry said that the construction cost includes maintenance and other prolonged costs. It, however, added, “User fee collected over the period of time from commencement of collection is not discounted and thus not comparable to the construction cost.”

Additionally, the user fee collected from Rajasthan for National Highways in the 2023-24 financial year was Rs 5,885.03 crore, which is less than Uttar Pradesh with Rs 6,695.40 crore but more than Maharashtra with Rs 5,352.53 crore.

Responding to the government’s reply, Beniwal said, “Despite collecting more toll than the cost of road construction, the condition of national highways remains poor. When the honourable Supreme Court has already stated that the roads are bad, why should travellers pay a toll? And why should the common man bear the consequences? However, the Supreme Court’s remarks have had no impact on the government because tolls are still being collected from the public despite the deplorable condition of highways. The government needs to reconsider the tolls being collected indirectly.”

The Ministry said, “Collection of user fee on National Highways is levied in accordance with the provisions of the NH Fee Rules, which specifies a base rate per kilometre of NH length indexed to the wholesale price index. Further, the amount of user fee collection on any highway is governed by the traffic playing on the stretch, category of vehicle (multi-axle, etc), type of corridor (industrial hub, etc), connectivity of the highway with important cities, etc.”