Sticks, muscles and chaos: See how failed promises are taking a toll on Delhi borders

NEW DELHI: Four months ago, South Delhi Municipal Corporation began the ambitious project to install a radio frequency identification (RFID) system for collection of toll at Delhi’s borders.

The Supreme Court-directed initiative aimed to decongest the toll points and restrict the entry of commercial vehicles not destined for the capital. The project began with 13 of the 124 toll points being chosen for the upgrade because 80% of the border crossings took place there. The target was to have the system in place by October 15 last year. Three deadlines have lapsed since, but the task of erecting an RFID infrastructure has been accomplished only at eight points.


SDMC officials remain unsure of when the work will be completed. Even at the crossings where the system is now RFID-compliant, the toll amount is still collected in cash because the vehicles haven’t yet got RFID tags, which deduct the amount electronically. Sunita Narain, member of the Environment Pollution Control Authority, assured that the 13 select border toll plazas would be functional by March end.

Would they be? When TOI took stock at three toll plazas at Aya Nagar, Shahdara Main and Shahdara Flyover on Monday night, it discovered that there was a long way to go for toll collection to become fully automatic. Traffic was still bunching up and toughies with sticks still according a menacing welcome to the city.

The new infrastructure was installed at Aya Nagar last October, but it is still a mess when the borders open up to let in commercial vehicles. Around 11.15pm on Monday, there were long queues, the time taken to cross the toll barrier delayed by the manual collection of money. A tax collector argued the RFID system could not be used because not many have acquired the RFID tags. “We have not discontinued the old system of trucks holding monthly passes,” he said.

TOI saw green-clad inspection teams climbing on trucks to check their contents, defeating the very purpose of a system meant to reduce stoppage time and congestion. Around 50m down the road, there were barricades manned by stick-carrying musclemen, their eyes peeled out for drivers trying to evade the toll collectors. Members of this so-called “flying squad” claimed, rather disingenuously, to be carrying the sticks to “protect” themselves from speeding cars.

At Shahdara Flyover, one of the two RFID lanes is yet to be transferred from the municipal corporation to the concessionaire. And though the other lane had the sensors, tag readers and software in place, it was barely contributing to the regulation of the mess there. “Right now, the software is only collecting details of vehicles, CNG or diesel, etc, to send to EPCA every week,” said an SDMC official. “We will be unable to operate the system unless vehicles purchase the RFID tags and ensure money in their e-wallets.”

At 11 pm, there was complete chaos at the point. The side lane meant to allow non-commercial vehicles and those who had paid the tax to pass was frequently obstructed by the toll staff, who manually verified that the vehicles had paid the toll. Adding to madness was a police barricade a few metres from the toll point

At Shahdara Main, where two lanes were RFID-compliant, the situation was almost identical to the other toll plazas. “What is really annoying is that the non-commercial vehicles are forced to idle for hours because the trucks take over the lane earmarked for non-toll vehicles,” grumbled exasperated Sahibabad resident Ankit Yadav.

This sorry state at the borders is largely due to the lack of co-ordination between land owing agencies leading to delays in transferring land for the construction of the new toll plazas. “Talks are still going on with the National Highway Authority of India to transfer lanes at Badarpur,” disclosed an SDMC official. “At Kalindi Kunj, we are similarly pursuing UP’s irrigation department to rent us land for erecting the required infrastructure.”

But more than anything SDMC, the nodal agency for border toll collection, seems to have failed to raise awareness about the new system. Till date, just 6,329 vehicles have registered for the RFID system. “We have limited registration points,” admitted an SDMC official. “We announced rebates for essential goods vehicles if they registered, but we didn’t get a good response. The only way to make the system work is to make RFID tags compulsory and strictly stop those that don’t have them.” Narain said an awareness campaign had been approved and hoped the registration would pick up pace soon.