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DND fines lane violators, Gurgaon e-way can’t do

Process To Check Errant Drivers Stuck In Red Tape

New Delhi: The DND (Delhi-Noida-Direct) Flyway authorities have started charging a fine of Rs 100 for those entering the silver and lanes and paying the toll in cash. The move, they say, is aimed at reducing the waiting time at the toll plaza. In just two days, the number of offenders has reduced by 50%.

The step has been taken even as custodians of the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway have been shying away from imposing a fine on people entering tag lanes at the toll plaza without tags.

After the increase in toll to an odd-figure of Rs 22 — which has since been rolled back — the waiting time at the DND toll plaza had increased to about 10-11 minutes during peak hours. As a result of this, several users paying the toll in cash had started getting into the reserved and silver card lanes, meant exclusively for those using smart cards to cross the toll plaza.

‘‘When our users have paid a premium and invested in a or silver card, we felt it is our responsibility to ensure that they are not inconvenienced due to 0.2% of the road users who decide to enter the wrong lane and cause delays. We carried out a survey and found that in the first two days, the number of offenders has dropped by 50% already,’’ said Devendra Yadav, chief general manager, Noida Toll Bridge Company (NTBC) Ltd.

The penalty, he added, was imposed more as a deterrent than a means to make more revenue. ‘‘We started with announcements guiding people into the correct lanes, then started stopping cash users from using the silver and lanes and finally started levying a fine of Rs 100. But still, not everyone is being fined,’’ Yadav said. The waiting time at the toll plaza has got reduced further, and and silver card users are very happy with the move.

When authorities at DND — which sees a traffic of little over 1 lakh vehicles daily — can initiate such a measure in public interest, what stops DSC Limited from adopting similar measures at the DelhiGurgaon Expressway where the stoppage time at the toll plaza is still very high during peak hours?

The Noida Toll Bridge Company, which constructed and owns the Delhi-Noida-Direct flyway, on Monday withdrew the 10% hike in the toll tariff that had been imposed on April 1. Confirming this, company managing director, Pradeep Puri, told ‘‘We have done this in deference to the wishes of Noida residents. Besides, we found it was causing some congestion at the toll plaza because of the odd figure.’’

DSC Limited claims that it is not authorized to prosecute and has repeatedly requested the Gurgaon traffic police to challan offenders, but in vain. ‘‘The Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway project is governed under a concession agreement signed by us with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). There is no provision in the concession agreement that authorizes us to charge or penalize cash vehicles entering the smart tag lanes,’’ said a DSC Limited spokesperson.

NHAI officials, meanwhile, contend that all BoT projects on national highways are governed by similar agreements. ‘‘The power to prosecute can’t be given to a private concessionaire as it can be misused. There can be no safeguard to ensure that only wrongdoers are being fined and they are not using this power to increase revenue. The right to prosecute lies only with the police,’’ said a senior NHAI official.