Farmers at toll plazas: NHAI pegs losses at ₹28 cr, ministry secy writes to Punjab government

The National Highways Authority of India has incurred a loss of ₹28 crore due to the ongoing protest by farmers who have shut down its 13 toll plazas in six districts of Punjab.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has incurred a loss of ₹28 crore due to the ongoing protest by farmers who have shut down its 13 toll plazas in six districts of Punjab.

The toll plazas have been non-operational since December 15 with farmers protesting under the banner of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee. (HT file photo)

The toll plazas have been non-operational since December 15 with farmers protesting under the banner of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC) against the Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government to press their demands. The recurring protests at toll booths have prompted Union ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) secretary Alka Upadhyaya to write to the state government and seek strict directions to the officials to take immediate necessary action against the farmers’ unions and their leaders to resolve the issue that has resulted in a significant loss to the central government exchequer, said officials privy to the developments.

Disruption against state support agreement

The MoRTH secretary has informed chief secretary Vijay Kumar Janjua that the farmer unions and their leaders are staging continuous dharnas at toll plazas located on national highways in Punjab to raise issues in no way related to the working of NHAI. “The state government has been told that these dharnas are against the stipulated provisions of the State Support Agreement signed on April 13, 2010, executed between MoRTH/NHAI and Punjab for NHAI projects to maintain law and order situation on the highways, including the toll plazas,” said an official requesting anonymity.

Upadhyaya, while seeking the state government’s immediate support for the resumption of operations of toll plazas, also pointed out to the state government that any further loss of revenue due to the agitation by the farmers’ unions will severely affect the budgetary requirements of new projects being undertaken and planned in the state as well as maintenance of existing national highways. The NHAI had, in a communication to the state government on December 16, also warned the Punjab government of the impact of disruption of its operations on new projects and upkeep of existing national highways. It also pointed out that if this issue is not resolved at the earliest, it will set a wrong precedence.

‘Efforts on to persuade protesting farmers’

Officials of the state government and NHAI have held a series of meetings, but there has been no forward movement on the resumption of user fees at the plazas. Janjua said that the state administration was closely monitoring the situation. “Efforts are being made to get the toll plazas vacated through persuasion,” he said. Of the 18 toll plazas made non-operational by the protesting farmers in nine districts, 13 are on national highways managed by the NHAI, and the remaining six are on state highways. The NHAI toll plazas are located in Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Ferozepur, and Barnala districts. The farmers are holding the protests to demand the minimum support price (MSP) guarantee law for crops, wage hike for labourers under MGNREGA, guarantee for alternative crops to paddy, and exemplary punishment to culprits of the Bargari sacrilege and Behbal Kalan police firing.

The NHAI has frequently faced the brunt of protests by farmers’ unions and other organizations, which shut the toll fee plaza operations. However, there was one instance where some protesters shut down the toll plaza at Kot Karor in Ferozepur and allegedly started collecting the user charges themselves two months ago. The agency shot off a letter to the senior superintendent of police, Ferozepur, with a request to stop illegal recovery and register an FIR against the miscreants. During the agitation by farmers against the Centre’s three farm laws, NHAI suffered a loss of ₹1,348.77 cr in Punjab, where the toll operations were closed by the protesting farmers for a period of 440 days from October 1, 2020, to December 15, 2021. The stir started in Punjab and then spread to Haryana and parts of Rajasthan, affecting more than 60 toll plazas.