Editor’s Note
This article reports on a scheduled increase in toll fees at 40 plazas in the state, effective April 1. The update aligns with broader national policy developments for highway tolls, as indicated by recent ministerial statements.
Chennai. User fees will be increased at 40 toll plazas across the state, including areas around Chennai, under the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) from April 1. The increase will range from Rs 5 to Rs 25 for various categories of vehicles. It is noteworthy that Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari had said that the government would soon announce a new policy for toll charges on national highways and this policy would provide reasonable concessions to consumers.
Tamil Nadu has a total of 78 operational toll plazas, including 12 user fee plazas opened in the last two financial years. User fees at 40 of these 78 toll gates will be revised on April 1, and the rest will be revised every year on September 1. Toll charges are revised based on the Wholesale Price Index under the provisions of the National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) Rules, 2008.
Fee revisions will be implemented at toll plazas at Vanagaram and Surappattu on the Chennai Bypass, Nallur on the Chennai-Kolkata Highway, and Athur and Parandur on the Tambaram-Dindivanam NH. A wholesale trader at the Koyambedu vegetable market said that the increase in toll charges will raise freight costs and, in turn, affect an increase in the prices of goods.
On the question raised by Rajya Sabha MP P Wilson regarding the closure of toll plazas, Minister Gadkari had clearly stated that user fees at fee plazas on national highways are levied in perpetuity. The fee for sections of national highways, bridges, tunnels, or bypasses for publicly funded projects will continue to be levied in perpetuity, as the case may be, and will be revised annually by these rules.
