Authority flags videos showing cops aiding vehicles flout RFID

The RFID-based toll collection process was rolled out across 13 points through which 85% of commercial vehicles enter the national capital.

The Supreme Court-appointed panel Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) will soon write to the police commissioners of Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh after it received videos purportedly showing policemen from Delhi and Haryana allowing vehicles to enter the national capital without paying toll tax and environment compensation charge.

A vehicle is checked for its RFID Card at Ghazipur toll booth in New Delhi, (Biplov Bhuyan/ Hindustan Times)

“We have received some videos, in which policemen from both Delhi and Haryana were seen allowing vehicles to pass through toll plazas without collecting tax. This is a very serious issue and we are very concerned,” Sunita Narain, member of EPCA, said.

One of the videos was taken at the Rajokri toll plaza around 3:00 pm on Thursday. EPCA members said most of the incidents, which have been captured on video, took place in toll plazas along the Delhi-Haryana border. Similar incidents from Ayanagar have surfaced.

“We have already brought this to the notice of the senior police officials in both Delhi and Haryana. We would send letters to the police commissioners of Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. We are deeply concerned. The entire RFID system could collapse if such incidents start happening at all toll plazas,” said Bhurelal, chairman of EPCA.

The RFID-based toll collection process was rolled out across 13 points through which 85% of commercial vehicles enter the national capital. The system was put in place to automatically transact toll tax and ECC so as to reduce congestion at the borders and ensure effective tax collection.

“Whatever complaint comes to us, we would look into it. If any police personnel is found guilty after enquiry, stern action would be taken,” said Anil Mittal, additional spokesman of Delhi Police.

Gurugram police commissioner Muhammad Akil said police can only assist the departments in performing their duties as it is not their primary duty to check pollution and RFID cards. “We are ready to assist the anti-pollution teams and the toll staff but we cannot check vehicles for the same,” he said.

The SC-appointed body has directed the South Delhi Municipal Corporation — the nodal agency implementing the project – to install CCTVs in free lanes at toll plazas so that commercial vehicle trying to flout the RFID system can be detected.

According to SDMC officials, more than 35,000 commercial vehicles have been slipping into the capital every day without paying tax since the implementation of the radio-frequency identification (RFID) project at 13 toll plazas. There are 126 toll plazas through which vehicles enter Delhi, out of which RFID has been rolled out in 13 points.

“Another 10 points have been identified where RFID would be introduced very soon. In the second phase, RFID would be rolled out in all the entry points. But as very few vehicles enter Delhi through the other toll plazas, the RFID would be run with limited infrastructure and not as elaborate as the 13 points,” Narain said.