NEW DELHI: Nearly 30% of private cars and jeeps taking the Delhi-Chandigarh highway are using the FASTag Annual Pass, which is three-fold higher than the share of the new scheme for toll payments across the NH network in the country.“We are hopeful that the number of private cars and jeeps buying the annual pass will touch 10 lakh by Tuesday. There has been no problem in the rollout of this scheme aimed at bringing relief to frequent highway users,” said NHAI member Vishal Chauhan while speaking at a workshop organised by Build India Foundation. Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari and Union road transport secretary V Umashankar attended the workshop.Gadkari said that while he has maintained that people need to pay for good service, it’s the responsibility of NHAI and other highway organisations to ensure roads are in good condition. “If we don’t provide good service, but charge a toll, then we will face criticism. I am directing my officers to display details of contractors, officials and the defect liability period of each stretch along highways, so that they are also held accountable,” he said, emphasising the need for quality project preparation and construction. Umashanker, while citing the example of how NHAI had to incur extra expenditure in Gurgaon to take up additional work on NH-48, said that the highway project report did not anticipate the future problems and also did not factor in the need to provide safe and adequate crossings for people given that the highway divides the city into two parts.
