Delhi-Meerut Expressway: Free ride may end on September 1, get ready to pay toll

Commuters traveling on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway may soon soon have to shell out money for toll tax as free ride on the highway is likely to end this month. According to reports, commuters may have to pay toll tax for travelling on Delhi Meerut Expressway from September 1.

Reports say that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has sought approval from the Ministry for Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) to begin collection of toll taxes after the construction of the 6-lane railway overbridge at Chipiyana is completed.

According to sources, the Union Transport Ministry has given its verbal consent to the request of NHAI.The next step is going to give written approval.Thereafter NHAI will publish the toll rates.As soon as this happens, toll may start from September 1 between Delhi's Sarai Kale Khan to Meerut.

It is being told that the proposal for toll collection at the rate of ₹1.60 to 2 per km has been sent by NHAI to the Union Ministry.In this way a toll collection of ₹125 to 135 can be done between Sarai Kale Khan to Meerut and ₹60 toll is proposed to be collected between Dasna to Meerut.

Delhi-Meerut Expressway is India's first highway to use Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cum FASTag based Multi Lane Free Flow Tolling System. It will help deduct toll fees without stopping vehicles at toll gates to ensure free flow of high speed traffic.

The first phase of this smart highway was opened for public on April 1 this year, three years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated it in May 2018. The project has been developed at a cost of ₹8,346 crore, Delhi-Meerut Expressway promises to cut down distance between the two cities drastically from about two hours to just 45 minutes.

People using the Delhi-Meerut Expressway for the past five months were travelling for free as toll gates were not operational. Mudit Garg, Project Director at NHAI, has said that at present the railway over bridge near Chipiyana will be closed after the next two days.It will be opened once the constriction work is completed.

The official inauguration of the 82-km-long Delhi-Meerut expressway is pending due to the incomplete second phase. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari is likely to officially inaugurate the second phase of the 82-km-long Delhi-Meerut Expressway between UP Gate and Dasna in Ghaziabad, which is likely to be completed by end of this month.