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The suspension of toll payments has reduced the overall turnaround time by one-and-a-half days (Mumbai-Delhi), resulting in a savings of Rs 3,000 per day per truck.This has led to the revival of their old proposal for annual toll permit instead of the manual payment or ETC tag.
“Earlier when toll was being collected, the average distance covered daily was just over 250 km, now with toll exemptions we are able to cover 400 km per day. This has meant faster movements of goods,” said Gurvinder Grewal, vice-president of Bombay Goods Transport Association, told DNA Money.
The truckers have also made a proposal to the government for make toll payment an annual affair and cashless, instead of collecting it manual or by way of Electronic Toll Collection (ETC). This will help reduce time wasted at toll nakas and fuel.
ETC tags have their own drawback of only one or two dedicated lanes that are equipped with the tag reading instrument. On several occasions, such lanes are kept open for even cash payment, resulting in traffic snarls at toll plazas, defeating the very purpose of cashless transactions and faster movement of vehicles.
“On the basis of a report, frequent stoppages made at the toll barriers result into loss of man hours and fuel worth Rs 145,905 crore combined. This is much higher to the toll revenues collected during the year 2014-15 at Rs 14,717 crore (as per NHAI’s website),” said BalMalkit Singh, advisor to All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC).
Meanwhile, truckers are on a constant lookout for old Rs 500 denomination currency notes to keep their business going.
Cash payments are routine at state check posts for transporting over-dimensioned cargo on trucks with a penalty for carrying oversized cargo stands at Rs 10,200 for each violation of rules on height, width and length.On the other, oil retailers have been insisting on cash payments and accepting old banknotes of Rs 500.
“In order to keep the business going, we are in need of Rs 500 denomination notes. This is primarily because there is a cap on withdrawing new currency notes. We have been taking money on credit from people on the basis of our goodwill,” Grewal said.The old Rs 500 denominated banknotes would be accepted at checkpoints and oil pumps till December 15.
As per a joint study report by Transport Corporation of India (TCI) and Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM-C) titled ‘Operational efficiency of freight transportation by road in India’, less than 10% of toll plazas were equipped with ETC in 2013-14. In 2014-15, 100% of the toll plazas were targeted to be equipped with ETC. However, not all toll plazas are equipped with ETC systems even now.
The joint study report said the average stoppage expenses per tonne-km increased 133.33% in 2014-15 over 2011-12. “Average toll expenses per tonne-km, on the other hand, increased by 54.55% during the same period. In other words, average toll expenses per tonne-km as a percentage of average stoppage expenses per tonne-km decreased from 73.33% to 48.57%,” said the report.
Another survey carried out on the Delhi-Mumbai corridor said the stoppage delays and freight costs were higher in summer and monsoons than in winter and spring due to poor road conditions, frequent vehicular breakdown, slow vehicular speeds, occasional detours owing to road flooding, traffic jams, and long queues at check posts and toll gates.
It said the total number of toll stops increased from 16 to 21.13 between 2011-12 and 2014-15 on an average stretch of 1,359.40 km. A study by the ratings agency Crisil estimated that a vehicle has to wait for about 5-10 minutes in the queue before it can pay the toll and leave the toll plaza.
If the annual toll permit is introduced, it will bring in more revenues to the government, efficiency in road transport ecosystem and lower logistics costs due to lowering of inventories, apart from better environment conditions due to less carbon emission, claims the truckers’ association.
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