Gurgaon: Police lift boom barriers to avoid jams at Kherki Daula toll plaza; e-payments down

Officials at the toll plaza said that while the traffic flow was smooth during the peak hours, the pressure was surprisingly higher after 10am, on the Jaipur side, which led to snarls.

Heavy traffic was witnessed at the Kherki Daula toll plaza on Tuesday. There were long lines of vehicles at the toll booths. However, a major traffic jam was prevented due to the timely intervention of the Gurgaon police, who lifted the boom barriers of the toll plaza and let vehicles pass without paying the toll.

Officials said jams happened as commuters were trying to pay toll with higher denomination notes. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

Officials at the toll plaza said that while the traffic flow was smooth during the peak hours, the pressure was surprisingly higher after 10am, on the Jaipur side, which led to snarls.

However, the use of central lanes, which are generally reserved only for VIP movement, helped ease the situation to an extent. Officials said that the traffic congestion was witnessed till 2pm.

“The boom barriers were lifted every half hour to ensure that there is no traffic jam at the toll plaza,” an official at the toll plaza said. He said that periodical removal of the boom barriers helped keep the situation in check.

Officials of the concessionaire said that the jams were still taking place as a large number of commuters were still paying the toll with the scrapped ₹500 note, which was causing a delay as it takes time for toll employees to return change for higher denominations.

He said that despite strong efforts, digital payment was not picking up.

The number e-transactions reported at the plaza from 8am to 4pm was 936, which is almost the same as Monday’s, which is 945. The toll collected on Tuesday till 4pm was around ₹26 lakh and 42,311 vehicles had passed the toll plaza, officials said.

The highway authorities also appreciated the support of Gurgaon police and administration to manage the toll plaza.

“We are ensuring that the concessionaire receives more than ₹5 lakh in smaller denominations every day. The Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway runs through the heart of the city and it is important that traffic moves smoothly. We are providing full police and administrative support to handle any situation,” TL Satyaprakash, Gurgaon deputy commissioner, said.