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Gurugram: Factory owners want toll collection at Kherki Daula stopped on bad air days
Gurugram Factory owners in Manesar have asked the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to suspend toll collection at Kherki Daula on days with a high level of pollution,
Gurugram Factory owners in Manesar have asked the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to suspend toll collection at Kherki Daula on days with a high level of pollution, to ensure that emissions from stationary vehicles do not compound the problem.
Manmohan Gaind, general secretary of Manesar Industries Welfare Association (MIWA), said, “Every day, the air pollution at Kherki Daula toll plaza is extreme. There is no monitor placed at the toll plaza either. We have asked the NGT to ensure that on highly polluted days, passage through the toll plaza is made free. Not standing in queues will reduce pollution levels.”
In the letter, dated October 12, it was mentioned, “Commuters have to wait for 10-15 minutes at the toll plaza, which makes the air quality worse, this is a pollution hot spot. NGT needs to get the air monitored with pollution monitoring authorities.”
Air quality experts said that suspending toll collection is a possible way to reduce pollution. Niranjan Raje, a Gurugram resident and former member of the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (Epca), said, “This is a small step towards reducing pollution in the city, but it should be taken.”
The Supreme Court-appointed Epca had, this year, stated that commercial vehicles must pay the toll through the RFID system, in which the toll is collected automatically, to reduce pollution levels. This was implemented at Sirhaul toll too.
Factory owners said that waiting at the toll for more than 20 minutes forces them to inhale toxic gases. Suman Chawla, board member, MIWA said, “Every single day, I have to stand in the queue for 30 minutes; this leads to huge pollution at the toll plaza.”
Members of the Millennium City Expressway Private Limited (MCEPL), the concessionaire for the highway, said that it is not possible to stop toll collection. S Raghuraman, chief executive officer, MCEPL, said, “This is an unethical demand. How can there be no toll collection?”
The concessionaire said that even if this demand is accepted by NGT, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will need to compensate them, as they have a contract with the highways authority to collect toll till 2023.
NHAI senior officials, however, decided to keep mum on this issue. “I cannot comment on this issue,” a senior NHAI official said.
Meanwhile, residents of nearby areas also demanded that the toll should be shifted from its present site because of the steep spike in pollution. Praveen Malik, president, Sare Homes residents’ welfare association (RWA), said, “Last year, there was an air quality monitor which was placed at the toll plaza. However, it was removed by authorities within a day.”
At present, the closest air quality monitor through which Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) keeps a tab on the pollution at Kherki Daula toll plaza is at Manesar, located six kilometres away.
Experts said that an air quality monitor needs to be installed at the toll plaza. Mukesh Khare, a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IIT-D), and coordinator, Centre of Excellence for Research on Clean Air, said, “With the number of vehicles crossing the toll plaza, around 85,000 per day (MCEPL, toll concessionaire records); an air quality index monitor is a must at the site.”
There is one monitoring station operated in the city by the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) at Vikas Sadan, which collects hourly data of ambient air conditions. “In a city such as Gurugram, we need more such monitors. The situation at Kherki Daula toll plaza is different from Vikas Sadan,” said Khare.
At present, another air quality monitor is installed in Manesar, around 18 kilometres from Vikas Sadan. Shakti Singh, regional officer, HSPCB (south), said, “Gurugram has two air quality monitors — we have another one at Sector-2 IMT Manesar, besides the one at Vikas Sadan. In the coming days, we will be installing two more such monitors at sectors 29 and 56. We don’t have any plan to set up an air quality monitor at the Kherki Daula toll plaza.”
