Cops to manage Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway during toll holiday

GURGAON: With the Punjab and Haryana high court's order barring toll collection at the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway plaza for 15 days coming into effect from Tuesday midnight, Gurgaon traffic police have deployed a special team to ensure its implementation and managing traffic.

"A team of 10 policemen will be on duty at the toll plaza to ensure implementation of the court order. Additional staff will be there to manage the traffic as well," said Bharti Arora, DCP (traffic).

Arora added that the order is a victory for the city residents and commuters who have suffered in long queues on a daily basis. "It is a victory for us as well. The concessionaire had moved the high court accusing traffic police of removing the toll barriers forcibly to give free passage to commuters during peak hours. We have maintained that barriers were thrown open for short durations to avoid long queues," Arora said.

Private concessionaire, Delhi-Gurgaon Super Connectivity Ltd (DGSCL), has claimed that the order will lead to a monetary loss of about Rs 9 crore. Daily toll collection at the plaza ranges between Rs 55 lakh and Rs 60 lakh, said a DGSCL spokesperson. Around 1.9 lakh vehicles cross this toll plaza daily.

Meanwhile, in their status report to the HC, traffic police have maintained that the private concessionaire has not implemented the order in letter and spirit and committed contempt of court. Police further stated that experiments carried out by DGSCL by installing seven temporary booths with hand-held machines did not help in decongesting the toll plaza.

The court order has been welcomed by the Toll Hatao Sangharsh Samiti, a citizens' group which has been pushing for removal of the toll plaza. "The order is in the right direction. City residents have suffered enough and the concessionaire has exploited us for years. It charged money but didn't provide any facility to commuters. We will continue with our demand of doing away of tolling system altogether. A large scale demonstration will be held in September to mobilize public in this direction," said a spokesperson.