KOLKATA: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will recommence collecting tolls on all operating National Highways, from 20th of April. This operation will take effect under the directive of Home Ministry which specifies the activities allowed during lock-down.
After the nationwide enforcement of lock-down due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had ordered NHAI to stop all tolling operations in India, from 25th of March. Now, in a letter sent on Friday, the ministry asked NHAI to take the necessary action for toll operations to resume.
With the lock-down, on extension, till 3rd of May, this week, the Home Ministry announced a bevy of relaxations aimed at a phased reactivation of our economy. These relaxations include the commencement of outstanding construction work along with the resumption of operations in private and commercial firms. Toll collection falls under the latter category. Thus, intra-state and interstate traffic of all trucks and other carrier vehicles have also been allowed.
Earlier this week, an ICRA analysis report forecasted the total NHAI loss at ₹1800 Crore if toll operations don’t resume till 3rd of May. the report added, “If the toll suspension is revoked with effect from April 20, the loss could reduce to ₹1,181 crore.”