Gurgaon, Jan 17 (IANS): Residents of ten more villages Saturday protested at Kherki Daula toll plaza on the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway demanding toll-free tags for their vehicles.
The facility has already been announced for vehicles belonging to the residents of 31 villages near the toll plaza, police said.
The villagers from Sahrawan, Nainwal, Mokalwas, Baghanki, Kherki and Pachgaon (representing five villages) situated along the Delhi-Jaipur National Highway-8 gathered at the toll plaza and protested in support of their demands.
Additional police force was rushed to the spot to prevent any untoward incident.
The sarpanches (village heads) and other protesters demanded that the concessionaire of the toll plaza and police issue toll free tags for their private and commercial vehicles.
They said that at present 42 villages have been exempted from paying toll but free tags are being issued to selective villages.
"We have been acknowledging only 31 villages along the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway from the starting. The issue of these villages was discussed with police and local administration on several occasions but these ten villages were never considered for exemption," a senior official at the toll plaza told IANS.
All vehicles - private and commercial - belonging to the residents of 31 villages near Kherki Daula toll plaza on the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway will get the toll-free tags soon.
So far owners of only 750 vehicles have registered with the toll plaza contractor for free tags, the official said.
He said the registration process will continue till Jan 21 and after that free tags will be issued to registered vehicles. The company will provide free tags (cost per tag is Rs 257).
He further said that the cost of the tags will be charged after Jan 21 and no tags will be issued after Feb 11.
Millennium City Expressway Private Limited (MCEPL), the concessionaire company of the expressway, said that nearly 15000 vehicles on an average pass the toll plaza daily without paying toll fee. Over 65000 vehicles pass through the plaza every day.
At present, the toll rates (per trip) are Rs. 60 for cars, Rs. 88 for medium vehicles and Rs. 180 for heavy vehicles.