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Old 23rd October 2010, 22:40   #16
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its definitely unethical and most likely illegal too.

I had a similar experience in Ahmedabad last year. There's an old toll booth as soon as you enter the city- apparently the contract for the toll road has expired and these guys shouldn't be collecting any more toll.

However they still sit at the toll booth but don't stop anybody. So people who know, just drive through yet other unsuspecting folks stop and pay.
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Old 23rd October 2010, 23:06   #17
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At least in UP you won't have to pay any toll from now on since UP Govt. has scrapped toll collection.

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Old 23rd October 2010, 23:13   #18
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Chennai folks might relate to this, the IT(Information Technology) corridor road from Sholinganallur Jn to Medavakkam is in absolute sh***y state, yet there is a toll plaza, which charges 20rs for one way
That road is just getting repaired
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Old 23rd October 2010, 23:30   #19
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Similar thing happened here in Nagpur, Toll booth was ready before the construction was completed. Thanks to local newspapers and activists, Protests and court cases stopped them from doing so, Now the company is completing its work as fast as possible.
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Old 24th October 2010, 00:20   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Spectre View Post
Chennai folks might relate to this, the IT(Information Technology) corridor road from Sholinganallur Jn to Medavakkam is in absolute sh***y state, yet there is a toll plaza, which charges 20rs for one way
That road is just getting repaired
I am from Delhi.I had gone to this so called highway(from airport till OMR jnc) and i was amazed that i had to pay 20Rs for a stretch which full of muck , dug up roads, open sewers, broken patches and number of traffic lights and that too right in the city .I mean the goverment is shameless .And i felt happy we have much better roads in Delhi .

But whether it is Chennai , Delhi , or any other part of India one thing remains common all goverment agencies are taking money from us in all forms shamelessly with no services , products being provided .
The whole system is unaccountable.


Also for Delhi-Gurgaon toll . For Delhi Side only :I have observed they clear a vehicle in about 15 Sec each .So in one day we have 86400 Seconds Implies Rs 1,15,200/- @Rs 20/- per car for 24 hrs per post.
No of Toll lanes 36. So each day they are earning atleast Rs41,47,200/- .Each year Rs 1,51,37,28,000.Started in 2004 Jan .Money till date (6.5years) Rs9,83,92,32,000.

Total Investment : Rs7,50,00,00,000.(7.5Billion Rs)

Now adding Revenue from Manesar side toll .
I do not know the number of toll booths for that .
But to to me i am sure they have already got what they invested , maintenance cost.

Last edited by Trust_In_Thrust : 24th October 2010 at 00:38.
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Old 24th October 2010, 09:04   #21
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While on my recent type to Bangalore from Hyderabad there are three places where you have to pay toll. I asked at two places and was told that the duration is 18 and 22 years. That is the number of years public will be paying tolls.
Question: We pay taxes for what?
Answer: The Toll collector in booth laughed heartily.
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Old 24th October 2010, 09:37   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Spectre View Post
Chennai folks might relate to this, the IT(Information Technology) corridor road from Sholinganallur Jn to Medavakkam is in absolute sh***y state, yet there is a toll plaza, which charges 20rs for one way
That road is just getting repaired
My dear friend, this is little bit wrong info. The tollgate at Shollinganallur-Medavakkam road is to collect the toll fee for using OMR road. Hence the adjacent roads like Shollinganallur-Medavakkam, Thoraipakkam-Tambaram are also have a toll gate that provides entry into OMR via these connecting road.

I took a toll y'day at OMR & when I exited out of Shollinganallur-Medavakkam road, I didn't have to pay anything.

However, these guys did something that was little bit disgusting. There used to be a road on Thoraipakkam-Tambaram (properly tarred & was in use) & little adjacently opposite to Chennai ONE IT park. These guys built up a toll that was after this road, this means, people could use this road & enter into OMR without a toll. IMO, these guys should've put up the toll so that people don't evade the toll pass. Instead, they broke, I really meant broke the road using a JCB. Now how does one account for that?
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Old 24th October 2010, 11:31   #23
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kavesh55 View Post
Forget about ethical or non ethical we should not pay a rupee as toll. We already pay the highest as road tax.
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Originally Posted by C300 View Post
Aren't these toll booths owned by local politicians/corporators or at least they get some kind of comission, especially on state highways?
I also feel the same. It's just another scheme to make our rich, scumbag politicians even richer. The roads are built with our money, and we are being charged to use it with most of it ending up in the politicians' pockets. The worse thing is the whole operation is so transparent and in-your-face, it's amazing! Our "chalta-hai" attitude is to blame for all this.
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Old 24th October 2010, 14:47   #24
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There are many highway projects all across the country that are being build by infrastructure companies.They do it on the DBOT system ei Design Build Operate Transfer system.
These companies put in their own money,they collect the toll,maintain it and after a period of time they hand it back to the government(say after 30 yrs).
The government only provides a small amount of funding known as Viability Gap Funding to the company so as to make it economically viable.
So in such cases collecting toll booth is not really owned by the politicians but by the companies themselves.
Often tenders are given even for road widening to in which case also companies can collect toll on highways which previously had no toll booths.
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Old 10th June 2011, 17:20   #25
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We paid a toll of 122/- before Karnal, on the way to Delhi. I have no idea what it was for. The entire stretch upto Panipat is nothing but countless diversions. At each diversion, you just have to slow down for the sake of your suspension.
I did indeed feel cheated with this toll.
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Old 10th June 2011, 18:22   #26
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Re: Charging Toll on under construction highways - Ethical?

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Originally Posted by amitoj View Post
We paid a toll of 122/- before Karnal, on the way to Delhi. I have no idea what it was for. The entire stretch upto Panipat is nothing but countless diversions. At each diversion, you just have to slow down for the sake of your suspension.
I did indeed feel cheated with this toll.
That is indeed one terrible stretch.

Guess their intention is to have a stretch of NH1 without any interference from towns/villages or any cross-flowing traffic.

But they should start collecting toll AFTER it is complete! For now, you speed up and then rapidly slow down to get off the highway. I drove on it last monsoon and the situation was just pathetic.
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Old 10th June 2011, 18:31   #27
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Quote:
Originally Posted by libranof1987

That is indeed one terrible stretch.

But they should start collecting toll AFTER it is complete! For now, you speed up and then rapidly slow down to get off the highway. I drove on it last monsoon and the situation was just pathetic.
Are they collecting it for the road that is being built or for the road that used to be there? The toll collection had started much before this current project had started, if i remember correctly.
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Old 10th June 2011, 19:06   #28
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Re: Charging Toll on under construction highways - Ethical?

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Originally Posted by amitoj View Post
Are they collecting it for the road that is being built or for the road that used to be there? The toll collection had started much before this current project had started, if i remember correctly.
The toll collection did start before the construction began. I spoke to one of the managers of the toll and even someone in Amritsar who had an idea about the project; they said most of the revenue collected now is to fund the ongoing flyover construction.
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Old 10th June 2011, 20:17   #29
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Re: Charging Toll on under construction highways - Ethical?

I hope I do not end up looking like Don Quixote charging at the windmills, but my guess is the BOT contractors are allowed to start charging the toll prior to conclusion of the project as they are made to undertake land acquisition at inflated prices to take care of road widening needs.

Now I know the land is acquired by the state authorities via a notification from the holders and passed on to the contractors at the acquisition cost. The question is who are the holders and what is the history of the holding being acquired. If such a consideration is not there then what justification can exist for allowing contractors to start their revenue generation even before they have fulfilled their contractual obligations?
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Old 10th June 2011, 22:16   #30
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Re: Charging Toll on under construction highways - Ethical?

This is a huge racket where, as someone rightly pointed out, the toll collection is controlled by the politicians or their promoted companies . In Mumbai there in one toll road connecting Wadala to RCF colony - the approach road is perennially screwed up but still they would charge 30/- as toll . And then we had our brilliant a$$ of a chief minister ( ex CM now) who asked car owners not to pay toll if they felt the road was not good enough - that's nautanki at its worst . I think ethical / moral and such other qualities are out of vogue nowadays - the only thing that drives these crooks would be greed!

@RS DEL - most of the time the land acquired is more than that is required and more often than not the land acquisition is done at throwaway prices (and not inflated prices) and handed over to the infrastructure companies ( who are hand in glove with the crooks ) Every BOOT operates on an IRR model based on cost estimates which are anyways horribly inflated through cost escalation clauses to extract concessions from the govt and by greasing a few palms the same is achieved . There is a clearly defined construction period post which the collection should start but most of the time we Indians are so creative that we find a way to manipulate the clauses and achieve the "toll collection" milestone without finishing the construction . Thats supernormal profit for the infra guys which is of course shared with characters who deserve to be in Tihar giving company to the illustrious new residents of Tihar. Its hurts that we pay nearly a third of our salary as tax, road tax, toll and still pay for the damaged suspensions

*OT I am very happy to see so many VIPs behind bars , its not yet time to give up on India
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