Whenever we travel on big highways, we have to pay a fixed amount for it. Which is known as toll tax. But sometimes the condition of the roads is not such that money can be paid for them. In such a situation, Aaj Tak investigated what is the current condition of the roads from which the government gets toll tax of thousands of crores of rupees and why are there so many potholes on these roads? Last week, with the help of an RTI, the Aaj Tak team found out that the National Highway number 48 connecting Gurugram to Jaipur was constructed at a cost of about Rs 1900 crore, from which the government has received toll tax of Rs 8 thousand 349 crore in 14 years between 2009 and September 2023, which is four times more than the cost of this highway.
The government says that the money it gets as toll tax from these highways is spent on their maintenance and repair as well as on building new highways and roads across the country. But today we want to tell you how bad the condition of National Highway No. 48, from which the government has collected four times more toll tax than its cost, is at present. According to RTI, this highway is 6 lanes but in reality this highway is only 4 lanes at most places and there are hundreds of potholes on this 4 lane highway too.
Even after paying hefty toll, people are forced to travel on substandard roads
Apart from this, dividers are also broken at many places on the way from Gurugram to Jaipur on this highway, due to which on an average more than 10 road accidents occur here every day. In Gurugram alone, there were 874 road accidents in the year 2021, in which 409 people died and most of these road accidents also took place on this highway. Apart from this, many new bridges are also being constructed on this highway, due to which there is a jam of several kilometers and only a small road is left for the vehicles to run on this six-lane highway, due to which people have to struggle a lot even after paying toll tax.
There should not be any toll plaza within 60 km
According to the rules, there should be a minimum distance of 60 km between two toll plazas on any highway. But in reality, the distance between ‘Manoharpur and Daulatpur’ toll plazas on this national highway is less than 60 km, which is against the rules. In such a situation, it can be understood from our report that what are people getting in return for the national highway for which they are paying toll tax worth thousands of crores of rupees.
In such a situation, we should also know about these five things…
First thing- This 230 kilometer long national highway was constructed in the year 2009 during the UPA government.
Second- The company which collected toll tax from this national highway for 12 years, got the contract during the UPA government and since then there were many flaws in the construction of this highway, due to which the Union Road and Transport Ministry also cancelled the contract of this company in the year 2022. Whereas this company wanted to extend its contract.
third- At some places, this highway could not be made a 6-lane highway because the state governments of Haryana and Rajasthan could not acquire the government land for it and when the land was not acquired, the work of making the highway a 6-lane highway remained incomplete.
Fourth- There are potholes on this highway only at those places where the highway is being repaired and new roads are being constructed.
And fifth- In view of the traffic jam on this highway, the government has built an alternative expressway, which passes through Bandikui in Rajasthan. So we have also told you what the government has to say on this.
And how much tax does a driver pay?
Now let us tell you that apart from toll tax, there are many other taxes in our country which every person who buys a vehicle has to pay.
When you go to buy a vehicle, you have to pay 28 percent GST on the actual price of that vehicle, in which 14 percent GST goes to the Central Government and 14 percent GST goes to the state governments. If you buy a scooter or bike, then you have to pay 28 percent GST on that too. After 28 percent GST, 17 percent road cess is charged separately on vehicles and one percent tax is collected in the form of “TCS”, which is called Tax Collected at Source. While buying a vehicle, you also have to take car insurance, on which 18 percent GST is charged separately. And when you go to get the pollution certificate of your vehicle, you have to pay 18 percent GST on this too.
This list does not end here. After all this, when you fill petrol-diesel in your vehicle, in most states, 30 to 50 percent excise duty and VAT is levied on it and this VAT is collected from you by the state governments. After this, you have to pay 18 percent GST separately every time you get your car serviced and if after paying toll tax on a highway, your car’s tyre gets damaged due to bad roads and potholes, then even on buying a new tyre, the government collects 28 percent GST from you. And if unfortunately a person meets with an accident on these roads and has to buy medicines for his treatment, then the government also charges 5 to 12 percent tax on those medicines and even after paying so much tax, there is no guarantee that the roads you are getting to drive on will be good and there will be no potholes on them.
Aaj Tak Bureau
Source (PTI) (NDTV) (HINDUSTANTIMES)