If the private toll agency taking care of the Surat-Dahisar Highway is to be believed, every fifth motorist who crosses its Boriach toll plaza drives away without paying the toll. Even worse is the Bhagwada toll booth, where every fourth motorist zooms past without paying. Both plazas are in Gujarat.
The IRB Surat-Dahisar Tollway Private Limited of IRB Infrastructure Developers Limited takes care of four toll plazas on the highway. In less than a month – February 22 to March 20, 2016 – 2,05,285 vehicles went by without paying toll at the Boriach toll plaza near Navsari. And how many First Information Reports (FIRs) were registered against these violators? The agency is unaware.
Also read: Toll Tales | Motorists argue and drive away without paying toll on Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway: IRB report
Of these over two lakh vehicles, 36,737 were buses and trucks. The data throws yet another interesting detail – more drivers of Multi-Axle Vehicles (MAV) sped off without paying toll than buses and trucks during the same period. Statistics available with dna show that 55,088 MAVs had to be let off after they protested against paying toll. Likewise, 97,783 cars were permitted "toll-free rides" after the drivers refused to pay at the Boriach plaza.
Similarly, during this period, of the 10,22,110 vehicles, 2,70,244 zoomed past the Bhagwada toll booths near Vapi without paying the requisite tax.
Even other toll plazas on the National Highway 8 between Surat and Dahisar have the same story. Between February 22 and March 20 this year, 60,164 out of the 8,26,174 vehicle drivers argued their way out of paying toll at Charoti plaza near Dahanu in Maharashtra. This means that every 14th motorist held up the traffic to drive on the highway without paying any tax.
Bhagwada plaza in Gujarat and Charoti plaza in Maharashtra are around 65km from each other. Although the firm stated that they have been registering FIRs against violators, when dna asked how many complaints have been registered till now, they did not share the data. The staffers, meanwhile, claimed that they rarely met anybody who refused to pay the toll.
