[vinu_h]

Happened to me at Mahabalipuram. All I did was ask for them to show the license, when they refused, i turned up the car call volume and called the police. I was worried this will backfire as they usually work together, but, worked for me. They let me go right away.

Similar incident in Kerala, they placed barricades around my car and wouldn't listen. INR 500 gone

[nettooran]

Originally Posted by airbus

While entering Kanyakumari, we were stopped by few persons and collected ₹70 (Rupees Seventy) as the Entry Fee for Kanyakumari.

Fee Receipt:

Attachment 2370072

Way back in 2006-07 , I chased down a car to Kanyakumari and could confirm its entry to Kanyakumari by cross checking at these very gates. Those days, they used to take down the registration numbers too. and there were counterfoils. It was well past midnight, so yes, they do it 24*7.

N.B: No, I am not a cop, but it was very entertaining experience.

[ashivas89]

I have noticed this at most hill stations of TN, they label it as "green tax". It is very likely a scam with the blessing of some local politician. For example: they were not around in the morning at 6:30, when we were returning from our trip to Coonoor, while they were there on our way up in the afternoon. As someone has already mentioned, official toll collection should be manned 24X7.

The funny thing is that they stopped my car with a puny 1.6 L engine because it had KA plates, while a Mahinda bolero maxx pickup, with local plates, belching thick black smoke was allowed to pass unhindered.

[thanixravindran]

Originally Posted by DicKy

Can understand collecting for parking, but in places it is just for entering the area. The official tourist tickets and parking tickets are collected separately. Heck, even for passing through a city like Madurai, one had to give money. (before bypasses came)

It is a relic of past. Pre liberalisation era, hardly there are tourist taxis with no facilities to stay as well not much revenue for the local bodies as they don't get any share from tourism tickets. So they are given permission to collect entry toll from tourist taxis. Example: Mahabalipuram. You have a parking inside the town which is free. You can park and go to temple entrance. It will generally be occupied by taxis. Long time ago they had night room facilities. It exists even today in Sikkim. Over the period of time, it become a loot everywhere.

Please see below the news report for Mahabalipuram as it is authorised finally after it reached court.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities...cle7856905.ece

If anyone interested, they can do RTI to find out which places are authorised.

[AZT]

Mahableshwar / Panchgani has had this for a while. The receipts actually have Mapro or Malas (can't recall) advertising on them . They let local or Satara cars pass without paying but stop rest of MH cars.

[highway_star]

Once I came across a collection point in coastal Maharashtra which was operated by children. They had put up a flimsy barrier made of sticks to stop cars and collect fees. I got out of the car and shouted at them so they quickly let me pass.

[MT_Hyderabad]

Some of the places I remember where I have paid such fee:
Old Mahabaleshawar MH.
Panchgani MH.
Suryalanka Beach, AP.
Pichawaram Mangrove Forest, PY.

[abhijith]

Originally Posted by GTO

Recently paid a similar fee at Tiger Point (en route Amby Valley) of all the places! .

This is definitely fake and I have argued with them when they just try to muscle their way to collect the so-called toll. I paid this only once when I went the very first time about a decade ago. The slip actually is for parking and not for usage of the road, after that I never stopped unless I had to go towards the viewing point!

[R.I.P]

I think this seems legit. Municipalities and panchayats can levy entry tax. For example:
1. Manali has an green entry tax for non Himachal vehicles
2. Spatu a army cantonment area near Solan has a entry tax for all vehicles
3. A similar tax was started in Shimla a few years ago(for non Shimla vehicles) but it created too much of a traffic jam due to the confusion on who was from shimla and who was'nt so was shelved.

[rajeevsulu]

Last year , I had a similar experience in karnataka when we were on our way to a temple. This year it was for a temple in a place called kodumudi in Tamilnadu.

[efgritesh]

Originally Posted by Axe77

I think these are legit. For instance Mahabaleshwar has a similar fee. This is usually some sort of a green tax for hill stations and similar which is charged by local municipalities / panchayats.

As a general matter, I don’t think its not some random goon collecting hafta but an authorised charge by the local municipality.

Mahabaleshwar is pure loot. They will quote amount per person and then give you say receipt of less than what you had paid for, most likely. It's pity that most of the folks never have time to verify the sum total of what they paid, and the one who does has to wait on side wasting time to get that useless paper .

[Tom Sooraj]

Originally Posted by arun_josie

I am not sure if this is legal, but they are collecting this since ages, at least since 1990s. They don't charge this for local people even if they have other state registered vehicle.

That was not the case when I visited Kanyakumari in recent times. I usually take up the highway, then turn right and then turn left (which then separates after some distance, one leading to Sunset point and the other one leading to Hotel Sparsa). People will be waiting to collect money at the end of the highway as well as the road leading to Hotel Sparsa/Sunset point. The distance between the two collection booths is barely 100 m. But the people at the end of the highway don't collect fee for local vehicles, but the people at the other road collect fee for all the vehicles.

Once, when I, along with my friends, planned a sudden trip to Kanyakumari, I was stopped by the people at the other road and they asked me to pay an entry fee of Rs. 50. I denied and decided to return. But they tried to stop me. I didn't bother to stop and escaped from the spot. What really frustrated me was that they were asking money even for local vehicles.

But the next time, I was with my family, and we really had to go to the road where Hotel Sparsa is located. So, we had to pay Rs. 50.

[naikameya]

Most of the time, this is illegal and done by jobless folks with the help of some politicians. I just pay up and leave; there is no point arguing unless you go there every day/regularly. Even then, I would recommend striking a deal than saying a flat no.

Important to note that a good chunk of the Indian economy/ families runs on such borderline illegal activities. This way, they make a living instead of resorting to thefts or mainstream criminal activities for survival, which could be a lot worse for all of us. I consider it a small contribution to my and my family's safety.

Enjoy your life and the drive.

[Cresterk]

Originally Posted by DustyWanderer

Same incident happened to me as well near Mahabalipuram, Chennai, Tamilnadu.
They are collecting this entry fee from Bikers as well in the name of Green tax.
I argued and immediately 3 to 4 people came and surrounded, police patrol vehicle was standing a few hundred meters away but they did not bother to help, even the other local vehicles passing by. so had to pay money and leave as I did not want to fight further alone.

It is just another way of creating revenue for the district or state , same like 50kph speed limit in Kerala high ways. Those roads does not have any fly overs but still collect plenty of toll amounts and have speed limit of 50kmph with hundreds of camera points.

https://www.thenewsminute.com/articl...-bridges-95027

As far as I know, there are only a handful of toll booths remaining in Kerala. They are a rather high amount (100+ for return trip) but they are much more convenient than stopping to pay toll every dozen kms. There are 0 tolls for bridges and such.

I don't know about this 50kmph limit. The speed cameras here only tag you if you go above 90 on the highways and above 70 on any other roads.

[kartoosh]

These are relics of past, I remember these being called "Chungi" and was somehow associated with State sales tax recovery from commercial vehicles. Later these collection agents graduated to collecting 'tax' from all kinds of vehicles. These were mostly prevalent near river bridges(as some one mentioned above) but are almost done away with atleast in UP.