You can skip toll at NHAI booths on highways

Next time when you are on a National Highway and you happen to wait at any of National Highways Authority of India's (NHAI) toll booth for 3 minutes, well, you have the right to deny toll payment and hit the accelerator pedal.

Secondly, if there are six vehicles ahead of you waiting for their turn to pay the toll, you can refuse the toll payment.

After having had a not-so-good experience due to poor highway quality, Ludhiana-based advocate Hariom Jindal had filed an Right to Information application with NHAI.

"I was told by friends that attempts have been made by toll collection company to mislead people by wrongly informing that no rule of 3 minutes is applicable for letting vehicles go free of cost. I had taken it up with NHAI regarding harassment of commuters at toll plaza," said Jindal.

It was also wastage of time in long queues and inconvenience caused to motorists that prompted him to seek details.

However, none of the road construction companies or toll operators or even the government has been educating or making citizens aware about existence of such a rule.

DNA Money approached one of the infrastructure majors to know if this '3-minutes' rule existed, the response was that not only it is true but also there exist another clause under which a motorist can refuse toll payment.

What is this another ground for refusal? Even if there are six vehicles ahead in the queue waiting for their turn to pass the toll gate, you have the right of refusal to pay toll.

However, motorists including Jindal often claim that even after having argued at toll plazas of poor road quality, still the staff force motorist to cough up toll amount.

"They even threaten people if toll is refused due to pothole ridden roads. In other words, the road or highway developers and toll collection staff are white collared goons extorting motorists," said Roy Jacob, a motorist.

Unlike almost all the road users, Jindal moved Ludhiana's district consumer forum to make concerned authorities including NHAI and three other private road developers, namely, Soma-Isolux NH One Tollways, GMR Ambala-Chandigarh Expressways and L&T Panipat Elevated Corridor accountable. "The case filed is about compensation for defective and damaged road resulting in bursting of car tyres. It is pending before the honourable consumer court," told Jindal to DNA Money.

Has Jindal ever managed to cross toll post without payment for waiting beyond 3-minutes? Yes, he has been successful on a couple of occasions, he claimed. "A couple of times, the waiting period exceeded 3-minutes, the moment I used to reach the queue, when it was long, I used to switch on mobile video camera and show to the booth operator when waiting time exceeded 3-minutes," narrated Jindal.

While these two rules for non-payment are applicable on National Highways of India, the rule differs for toll (Built-Operate-Transfer or Toll Collection) contracts for each and every state highway. For example, Maharashtra's Public Works Department and Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation have no formal guidelines or rules on possibility of toll refusal due to excessive waiting time.

"If waiting time exceeds 4 minutes, the toll agency will have to make alternate arrangements for collection either using handheld device or staggered toll booths. Earlier this year, 'Yellow Line' concept too was introduced to boost motorist sentiment, but no official guidelines were issued on allowing motorist pass by toll plaza without payment," said a Maharashtra state official.