Gurgaon’s Kherki Daula gets 11 women toll collectors - Hindustan Times
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Gurgaon’s Kherki Daula gets 11 women toll collectors

Hindustan Times | By, Gurgaon
Apr 25, 2017 11:15 PM IST

The Kherki Daula toll plaza now has women manning toll collection centres at 11 of its 23 lanes

The Kherki Daula toll plaza now has women manning toll booths at 11 of its 23 lanes for eight hours daily.

The women operate the toll booths only during the day.(Sanjeev Kumar/HT Photo)
The women operate the toll booths only during the day.(Sanjeev Kumar/HT Photo)

The toll operator, Skylark Infra Engineering Private Limited, has introduced this team of young women and has provided pick up and drop facility, free lunch and accommodation close to the toll plaza. The women operate the toll booths only during the day.

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Sanju Kumari, 19, said, “I joined the training around a fortnight ago. I have studied till Class 12 and learnt computer skills. It was on that basis that I was selected. I was urgently looking for a job, just like the other women here. We have been enjoying our work.”

Piyush Gandhi, project head of Skylark, said, “We introduced the team of women for women empowerment, to reduce unfair demand for toll exemption, and to strengthen manpower. There are also women commuters who go through this toll plaza daily and for them women toll collectors would undoubtedly bring comfort.”

“All of the women are from Varanasi or nearby villages as we have hired them through the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushal Yojana. They underwent 10-day training at the toll, after which they were interviewed. They finally joined the operation on Monday,” said Gandhi. He added that the Gurgaon-Faridabad toll plaza also has women toll collectors.

Mamta Devi, another woman toll collector, said, “It is good that I learn to deal with different kinds of people daily. Commuters, including women, are surprised to find women operating the toll booth. After duty hours, we enjoy the day together.”

More than 70,000 vehicles cross the toll plaza every day. While Skylark maintained there is enough security provided at the plaza, there have been a number of untoward incidents with toll collectors there.

On February 12 night, former Gurgaon block committee chairman and local Congress leader, Hoshiyar Yadav, allegedly thrashed an operator at the toll plaza. Yadav, while refusing to pay toll, allegedly ransacked several toll booths when a toll staffer asked him to produce his identity card and vehicle permits for exemption from toll fee.

On February 16, four men attempted to abduct the assistant manager at the toll at gunpoint following a tiff over payment. The manager was let off as the abductors got stuck in a traffic jam, but they thrashed him and threatened to shoot him before leaving him on the road.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Dhananjay Jha writes on development authorities, transport, industries, power and other developmental issues in Gurgaon. A journalist for over a decade, he has worked in Delhi and in HT’s Noida bureau.

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