HYDERABAD: Was it a lapse in judgement or communication? The Telangana government, through Chief Secretary SK Joshi, on Saturday night announced on Twitter that toll fee would be waived at all toll plazas on national and state highways on January 13 and 16 for Sankranthi traffic. 

But it seems the government forgot to tell authorities of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) about this. 

What this meant was that multiple people travelling to Andhra Pradesh via the Hyderabad-Vijayawada and Hyderabad-Kurnool national highways had a gruelling time, stuck in long queues, waiting to argue with the toll booth operator about payment. Most of them argued for at least a few minutes before paying up. 

A senior NHAI official said that it would have been better if the government had first told the NHAI before it announced its decision. “They should have told us about their plans and how they will compensate us for the losses,” the official said. 

It was only in the afternoon when people started crying themselves hoarse on social media, that the district collector concerned spoke to NHAI officials about the matter. 

The official lamented, “Tollbooth operators on the Hyderabad-Vijayawada stretch will incur a loss of Rs 1.6 crore due to the waiver. They will come to us (NHAI) for this money and we will have to write to district collectors for it. This will go on for months.”

People travelling within the State also suffered from a lack of clarity. People travelling from Hyderabad to Siddipet, Karimnagar or any other place using Rajiv Rahadari state high way assumed they would benefit at its three toll booths as well. 

However, as Vasudeva Rao, a professor at PJTS Agricultural University, said, “I was travelling from Hyderabad to Karimnagar and I was charged toll fees at Duddeda and Renukunta plazas.”
“The personnel told me they did not receive communication from the government about the waiver,” he added.

A senior Roads and Buildings department official told Express that there was no official communication from the government. 

“It was only at around noon, when we watched on TV about commuters protesting on highways, that district collectors told us about it. We stopped collecting fees only then,” the official said. 

Srinath Reddy of HKR Roadways, that operated toll booths on the state highway, said, “We stopped collecting fees after multiple travellers protested about it. We got no official communication from anyone. We will write to district collectors concerned about the losses we incurred.”