VIPs' free ride on toll roads may end

Free rides on toll roads for the country's VIPs might soon be over. The government is coming up with a new toll policy which might prune the long exemption list of VIPs who do not have to pay toll on national highways.

At the moment, the prime minister, President, top state and central bureaucrats, government vehicles, MPs and MLAs are all included in the list.

The new policy would also address other aspects, including whether a differential tariff based on different kinds of roads should be introduced (at present, the toll rates are uniform across the county), whether there is a need to take tolls for three wheelers and whether tolls be charged on highways in the north-east.

The policy is currently with the Committee of Secretaries (CoS) for last-minute scrutiny, before it is sent to the Cabinet for final approval. Ministry sources say that it may be cleared within a month.

Arguing for a differential tariff, officials point out that on highways where a particular stretch has a number of bridges, the toll should be higher (building bridges increases the cost of the project).

At present, the ministry for roads and highways is not clear about whether to increase toll in such cases or pay the difference and compensate the concessionaire for incurring high building and maintenance costs.

The officials say that at present there are too many VIPs (from PCS officials down to even civic body officials) who enjoy exemption from toll, and this may come down considerably.

A source in the roads ministry told Business Standard that the CoS headed by expenditure secretary (finance ministry) had formed a sub-committee to decide on these issues.

Apparently, this sub-committee took some time to discuss these issues, but has now sent its final proposals back to the CoS.

Since its seven years of inception, the National Highway Development Programme (NHDP) has thrown up all these issues related to tolling, which has necessitated the ministry to come out with a new policy.

However, another significant thrust behind working out a new policy is the fact that under NHDP Phase IV, around 20,000 km of highways (in remote areas and those with lesser traffic density) are to be two-laned.