Are toll charges high in India? Nitin Gadkari says ‘ have to pay for good roads’

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday that people in the country have to pay if they want to make use of good roads here. Speaking during a review of the progress made in the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway (DME) in Haryana's Sohna, Gadkari outlined that commuters should be able to pay toll if using good roads.

Highlighting how the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway will bring down travel time between the two cities drastically, Gadkari underlined why toll taxes are required. “If you want to use an air-conditioned hall, you have to pay for it. Otherwise, you can arrange a marriage on a field as well," he was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

The pace of highway construction in the country has quickened in the past several years and Gadkari has repeatedly highlighted the need to have roads which are world class.

Several expressway projects - under construction and planned - promise to not just cut travel distance but time as well by offering smooth roads. The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is one such key project. “The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway will decrease travel time to 12 hours. A truck takes 48 hours to reach Mumbai from Delhi. But on the expressway, it will take only 18 hours," Gadkari explained. “So, a truck will be able to undertake more trips, which would in turn mean more business."

The 1,380 km-long Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is being developed at a cost of ₹98,000 crore. “The expressway will connect the urban centres of Delhi through the Delhi-Faridabad-Sohna section of the corridor along with a spur to Jewar Airport and Jawaharlal Nehru Port to Mumbai through a spur in Mumbai," a statement issued by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways read. The express way will span across Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, before entering Maharashtra. Cities like Jaipur, Kishangarh, Ajmer, Kota, Chittorgarh, Udaipur, Bhopal, Ujjain, Indore, Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Surat are expected to benefit from this expressway as well.

(With inputs from Live Mint)

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