Cash coupons to be issued at Kherki Daula toll plaza from Sunday

As part of its efforts to mitigate the crisis caused by a lack of change on toll roads, the highways authority will issue cash coupons in denominations of Rs 5, Rs 10, Rs 20, Rs 50 and Rs 100 for payments at Kherki Daula toll plaza on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway from Sunday.

As part of its efforts to mitigate the crisis caused by a lack of change on toll roads, the highways authority will issue cash coupons in denominations of Rs 5, Rs 10, Rs 20, Rs 50 and Rs 100 for payments at Kherki Daula toll plaza on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway from Sunday.

Vehicles queue up at Kherki Daula toll plaza on the Gurgaon expressway as the struggle for change continued on Saturday. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

Arrangements as per the standard operating procedures are being made at the toll plaza for the same, an official said.

Duly approved coupons worth Rs 10 lakh were delivered to highway concessionaire, Millennium City Expressways Pvt Ltd (MCEPL), on Saturday. These coupons shall be valid at all toll plazas on national highways across the country, and these have been provided with in-built security features.

“The coupons shall remain valid for till midnight on December 30. If the tenure is not extended, commuters can return the coupons and claim the balance amount,” S Raghuraman, CEO, MCEPL, said.

Change has become precious after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the demonetisation of Rs 1,000 and ₹500 currency notes on November 8 and replaced them with new Rs 2,000 notes. The new Rs 500 notes are still in short supply.

Sources at the Kherki Daula toll plaza said the highway concessionaire was not very keen on issuing the coupons as there was plenty of change being generated every day. The revenue of the toll plaza has been touching ₹40 lakh daily, and the support given by the district administration in the form of Rs 5 lakhs in currency notes of lower denominations has helped bring the system back to normalcy.

“The money would remain stuck in coupons and if the vehicle users do not frequent tolls, it would be of no use. We are managing the situation well,” an toll official who is sceptical about the use of coupons said.

The national Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has printed coupons of almost Rs 1 crore in the expectation that the alternative will take care of the cash crunch. “We are issuing coupons against cheque deposited by the concessionaire. The commuters will be given their money back once their (coupon) usage is invalid,” AK Sharma, project director, NHAI, said.

Navneet Pratap Singh, CEO, Skylark -- the expressway operator -- said they are prepared to issue the coupons and help the commuters in every way. “We will keep all records of coupons, their issue and usage as these have to be redeemed later,” he said.