New toll plaza on NH1 in Murthal leads to jams

COMMUTERS HASSLED Motorists claim snarls caused due to authorities’ mismanagement

SONEPAT :Commuters travelling via National Highway 1 in Murthal had to face a harrowing experience on Saturday due to the opening of a new toll plaza here.

The new toll plaza charges ₹65 for cars and other light motor vehicles for one-way trip and ₹95 for a return trip in a day. For oversized vehicles, the toll charges are up to ₹415 for a single trip. It is the fourth toll plaza to come up between Delhi and Chandigarh.

Many commuters said that they were stuck in long traffic jams for hours on Saturday due to mismanagement by the authorities.

Motorists complained that the NHAI started the toll plaza without proper construction of roads and setting lanes, leading to a massive traffic build-up on the highway.

The toll plaza started functioning without any CCTV cam- era and passage for ambulance or VIP movement. When Sonepat MP Ramesh Kaushik, was coming back to the district from Chandigarh, he got stuck in a jam, following which the highway was made toll-free for a few minutes to clear traffic and let his car pass.

The traffic jam, however, soon returned as the toll collection resumed.

“There is a jam for up to five kilometres. There are no boards here to inform us about the toll fee. What is the point of starting a toll here when the roads are still under construction to expand the highway,” a commuter stuck in traffic said.

Hundreds took to social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook to upload live videos of traffic jams. They tagged CM Manohar Lal Khattar and Union minister Nitin Gadkari in their posts.

A petition on website change.org has also been started demanding the removal of the toll plaza.

In a recent event here, CM Khattar had brushed off the questions related to the toll saying that the matter pertained to Centre.

What is the point of starting a toll here when the roads are still under construction to expand the highway COMMUTER