From Monday, the road toll charges will witness a 3-5% price hike across the country, according to the officials.
Rise In Toll Charges From Monday
The move comes when the annual put a hold on the increase in April due to the country’s general elections.
Normally, Toll charges are revised annually in India. This is in line with inflation and highway operators as they put notices in local newspapers announcing hikes of 3% to 5% at nearly 1,100 toll plazas from Monday.
According to a senior official at the National Highways Authority of India, “As the election process is over, the revision of user fee rates, which was put on hold during the elections, would become effective from June 3.”
Further adding that the hikes in toll charges and taxation on fuel products help pay for the expansion of national highways.
However, it appears that opposition parties and many motorists criticize the annual rise in charges.
Saying that they increase transport costs of essential commodities and burden commuters.
These price hikes will definitely be beneficial for the high operators such as IRB Infrastructure Developers and Ashok Buildcon Ltd.
Huge Network Of Roads
As the data reveals, the country has invested billions of dollars over the last decade to expand the national highways.
They have developed a total length of about 146,000 kilometers, the second-largest global road network.
In the meantime, the toll collections jumped to more than 540 billion rupees in the 2022/23 fiscal year from 252 billion in 2018/19.
This is mainly affected by a rise in road traffic as well as by increases in the number of toll plazas and charges.
As we all know, India’s general election concluded on Saturday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party -led alliance is projected to win a big majority, as per the TV exit polls.
