Gurugram: Locals say revised toll fee on Sohna elevated road ‘too high’

Commuters on the newly developed Sohna elevated road, which was opened to the public last month, will now have to shell out a higher toll fee as the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has increased the rates for different categories of vehicles from Thursday, said officials.

According to the new rates, a single trip in a car will cost them 115 per trip, increased from the previous rate of 45. NHAI officials said that the steep increase is due to “opening of the entire stretch of the Sohna elevated road for public use.

Under the Sohna road project, 22km from Rajiv Chowk to Sohna village was opened for commuters in two phases. In the first phase, 13km was opened for traffic on April 1 this year. In the second phase, the remaining stretch was opened for traffic on July 12. It was formally inaugurated by union transport minister Nitin Gadkari on July 19, said officials.

Vikas Mittal, senior manager at NHAI, said that earlier the toll fee was charged only for one section of the highway, but now the toll has been revised after the entire stretch was opened.

“The reason for higher toll fee is that the entire stretch has been elevated, and as per the NHAI norms, one km of an elevated stretch is equivalent to 10km of surface road, and the toll is calculated on that basis. There is no change in the rate of local pass which allows unlimited trips to people living within 20km of the toll plaza,” he said, adding that “a major portion of this road has been elevated”.

PK Kaushik, project director, NHAI earlier said that the toll fee would be revised once the entire stretch of the elevated road is opened for traffic.

According to the new rates, a car trip on the highway will cost 115, while the toll fee for a return trip will be 175. The rate for light commercial vehicles per trip will be 175, a bus and truck will have to pay 400 per trip. The monthly pass for 50 trips will cost 3,915. However, the local pass for cars and jeeps for people living within 20km of the toll plaza will remain 315 per month.

City-based commuters, while referring to the rate hike, said that the increase was really high, and the authority should consider giving a rebate to people who travel to Sohna or Nuh occasionally or weekly.

“The revised rates are very high, and someone going to Nuh on weekends will be badly affected,” said Navin Kumar, a city resident.