Road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday told Rajya Sabha that govt will avoid building toll plazas within 6-7 km of cities and industrial areas for benefit of locals and the working population. He also said that government is trying to introduce GPS-based tolling on NHs before MCC comes into force.
In response to a supplementary from a BJP MP on problems faced by locals in Visakhapatnam because of a toll plaza, Gadkari said he is aware of the issue on certain stretches. “During the UPA govt, they allowed setting up toll plazas close to urban areas and later the task of toll collection was given to private plates. If we terminate them now, they will raise claims and we have to pay the compensation.
Because of this people who go to work for just a few kilometres need to pay toll. This is not right. We are ensuring that toll plazas don’t come up not within 6-7 km of cities so that locals don’t end up paying toll,” he said.