Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: A part of the money collected from toll gates is supposed to be spent for maintenance of the national highways. Is it followed in practice in Assam? The NHAI (National Highway Authority of India) manages, collects, and supervises toll taxes in India.
Assam has nine tollgates on national highways that collected Rs 452 crore last year. The very purpose of toll collection is to cover some or all of the cost for construction, operation, and maintenance of roads, bridges, etc. A tollgate should have some basic amenities like a rest area, a fuel station, emergency services, a clean toilet, Wi-Fi access, an information centre, etc., which are not to be found in the tollgates in Assam.
The conditions of most of the highways in Assam are pathetic. The national highways from Dhemaji to Bogibeel, Nagaon to Amoni, Silchar to Guwahati via Meghalaya, and NH-15 in Lakhimpur are in a deplorable condition. The conditions of the service roads of the highways, including the stretch from Khanapara to Jalukbari in Guwahati, are not up to mark.
According to responses from the Government of India to an RTI application from Rakesh Hazarika, Rs 117 crore was collected from the tollgate at Madanpur, Rs 91 crore from the tollgate at Nazirakhat, Rs 63 crore from the tollgate at Dahalpara, Rs 61 crore from the one at Patgaon, Rs 58 crore from the one at Raha, Rs 31 crore from the one at Mikirati, Rs 24 crore from the tollgate at Galia, Rs 3 crore from the one at Mandardisa, and Rs 0.88 crore from the one at Baluchara in 2023.
Assam has national highways with a cumulative length of 4077 km; some stretches are under the NHAI and some under the state PWD. The provision of lighting in national highways in Assam is around 2.5 percent of the total length of national highways, compared to 17 percent at the national level.
National highways should have trauma centres at an interval of around 100 km so as to provide medical services to people injured in accidents. This facility is almost zero in Assam. They have tie-ups with some of the nearest hospitals at some places.
The moot question is: the people of Assam have been paying crores of rupees at the tollgates, but why don't they get properly maintained national highways? Recently, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said that collecting tolls on roads in poor conditions is not fair.
The construction of three more tollgates-one each at Rangamati, Sulung, and Monabari-has been completed and set to be operational shortly.
Also Read: Toll fee collection on NHs reached Rs 54,811 crore in FY24: Nitin Gadkari
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