The Delhi-Noida-Direct flyway has long become toll free, but anMCD (Municipal Corporation of Delhi) toll booth placed a few meters away from the dismantled DND toll booths, has become the cause of daily hassle for commuters of Delhi and Noida. The MCD road entry tax collection booth has become the cause of regular choking of traffic and even puts the lives of motorists on the DND flyway at risk.
Commuters say that they are ready to pay the MCD toll, but the collection process should not cause choking of roads. Since the DND flyway became toll free, the MCD toll booth has been placed on a narrow stretch to collect road entry tax from commercial vehicles. However, MCD officials seem reluctant to take responsibility for the mismanaged MCD toll booth.
A senior MCD official said: “In the absence of resources, we have no option but to place the tax collection booth at the narrowest stretch on the flyway so that we can collect toll from all the commercial vehicles entering Delhi.”
Criticising the MCD’s decision to place the toll booth on a narrow stretch of the DND flyway, Sudha Mehta, an employee of the road and safety unit of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), said: “Traffic jams can simply be averted by placing the toll booths at a wider stretch of the flyover, but the MCD does not want to spend on manpower and infrastructure necessary to place the toll booth on a wider stretch.” The MCD has hired a private toll operator, but employees of this operator have been facing flak for their alleged misbehaviour with commuters. Some toll collectors have been allegedly found to be involved in giving free passes to commercial vehicles for charging less than the prescribed entry charges. The malpractice is allegedly being run in collusion with MCD officials. Bharti Gupta, who works with an IT firm in Noida, said: “I was returning to Delhi from Noida in a cab. Caught in a massive traffic jam on the DND flyway, my cab reached a place where a few men with sticks approached my cab and started hitting on the cab window on the side I was sitting, I was scared. By the time I could understand, my cab driver paid a Rs 50 note and drove away. Later, the driver told me that the guys were collecting MCD toll tax.”Gupta added: “When I asked the driver, he said that the toll tax for cabs is Rs 100, but he paid half the charge and got away with it. I think the MCD should hire permanent staff and install a proper toll collection process to avoid such chaos.” The MCD booth operators are not following basic norms to indicate to motorists about the placement of the toll booth. No signal has been placed for the visibility of the barricades at night. Mukesh Arya, a daily commuter on DND, said: “In the evening, heavy vehicles stop mid-way and park their vehicles at the roadside, making the flyway narrower. Once the entry of these vehicles starts, their movement creates more trouble for other commuters.” Rupesh Tyagi, a former RTO official, said: “In the age of digital revolution, there should not be an old tax collection process. Similar to individual vehicles, these commercial vehicles should also be allowed to pay one-time tax.”