India has seen a massive development in state-of-the-art road infrastructure in recent years. But it has not happened without its fair share of criticism and controversies.
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Due to the push for highway expansion by the NDA Government under the leadership of Nitin Gadkari, the number of toll gates in the country have increased significantly. This is due to the fact that the government relies heavily on public-private partnerships, and loans from private players to build the infrastructure.
This has led to formation of a number of toll gates to increase the toll collection, so as to repay the loans taken from private bodies to build the roads.
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While this initiative was originally aimed at reducing the direct increased burden on the taxpayers, it seems that the toll gates have increasingly drawn sharp criticism from the public. There are some fundamental problems in the toll system, which has led to many viewing it as a double burden, rather than a relief.
The toll gates continue to remain operational even when the complete amount required for the loan recovery has been recovered. This has led to the public thinking that they are being forced to pay the interest as well on top of the principal amount.
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Furthermore, people face congestion and traffic jams at toll gates during peak hours.
While modern infrastructure is the need of the hour and is absolutely necessary in the development of any nation, a lack of transparency and accountability in the toll system has left the public angered, which is something the Union Government would have to come forward to resolve at the earliest.
