Will meet CM over Kherki Daula toll plaza removal: Manesar industrialists

For Manesar industries, the Kherki Daula toll is a major hurdle and shifting or scrapping the plaza will benefit them and other stakeholders

After the recent statements of Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar that talks are underway to get the Kherki Daula toll plaza on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway removed, the industry owners of Manesar have decided to give a representation highlighting that there has been no progress on the ground.

Industrialists are unhappy with the approach of the state to the Kherki Daula toll problem. (Parveen Kumar/HT File)

The owners are unhappy with the approach of the Haryana government to Kherki Daula toll problem.

“We have written to the chief minister seeking his intervention. We need to get rid of the toll plaza. The entire industry is fed up with the perennial jams due to the pathetic management of the toll plaza. Khattar in a recent statement said that talks are underway between officials of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the concessionaire operating the toll. But the ground reality is different and there is no talk underway,” said Manmohan Gaind, president, Manesar Industries Welfare Association (MIWA).

For the more than 2,500 industrial units of Manesar, the toll is a major hurdle and shifting or scrapping the plaza will benefit them and other stakeholders.

The state government had formed a committee under Haryana chief secretary DS Dhesi to resolve the toll issue. The committee was tasked with holding talks with NHAI and shift the toll plaza beyond the boundary of Gurgaon district.

“The committee has failed to devise a way out. We are forced to assume that the government is not serious about shifting the toll plaza. During the 2014 general elections and the assembly elections, also held the same year, the BJP leaders had promised to resolve Kherki Daula toll plaza issue. But nothing has happened and the toll continues to be a worry. Industries are the worst hit as our trucks and workers are stuck in jams for hours daily.

Gurgaon MP Rao Inderjit Singh and Khattar had held a meeting in this regard on Saturday in Chandigarh. Later, a statement was issued that talks are underway between the government officials and the NHAI.

The Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC), another major stakeholder as well beneficiary of the toll removal, member Atul Mukhi said, “No concrete solution has come out yet.”

A senior NHAI official, wishing to remain unnamed, said, “There is no talk or progress on the Kherki Daula toll plaza removal at all.”

The industries have been pressing hard for the removal of the Kherki Daula toll ever since the Sirhaul toll plaza was removed four years ago following an order of the Punjab and Haryana high court.