BENGALURU: Travelling by road across
Karnataka is set to get expensive, with the state government clearing a proposal to collect toll fees on select stretches of state highways.
The levy of user charges on these roads will come into effect later this month.
The government’s move to levy toll comes at a time when transportation is getting dearer, with prices of motor fuels skyrocketing. The introduction of user charges on state highways is expected to further increase the cost of transportation — both by goods and passenger vehicles.
Public works minister H D Revanna told a press conference on Tuesday that the earlier BJP government had proposed to collect toll on state highways and the present government was simply implementing the same.
“It is an old proposal from 2010, and what we are doing now is just follow-up action,” said Revanna.
In all, 12 tenders were called to impose toll on 17 state highways, with a cumulative length of 1,400km. Of these, five tenders were cleared.
“Preliminary procedures, including the notification of fee structure, have been done. The agencies to set up toll gates have been identified and toll collection is expected to begin later this month,” said M Ganesh, managing director of the Karnataka Road Development Corporation Limited.
The stretches of highways ready for toll levy are Padubidri-Karkala (28km), Hoskote-Chintamani (52km), Tumakuru-Pavagada (98km) and Mudugal-Tavaregera (74km).
PWD secretary K C Krishna Reddy said levying toll charges on state highways is in line with the national highways policy, and the money collected would help in debt servicing as the government had borrowed from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank to upgrade these roads.
The KRDCL and Karnataka State Highways Improvement Project (KSHIP) had proposed a toll in March this year on stretches of 31 roads, with a total length of 3,800km, and the state cabinet led by then chief minister
Siddaramaiah had approved the proposal for 1,530km on 19 highways, of which 17 highways are being considered for toll levy at present.