The Hindu : New Delhi News : “It is still a nightmarish experience travelling from Delhi to Gurgaon”

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Saturday, Feb 09, 2008
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“It is still a nightmarish experience travelling from Delhi to Gurgaon”

Ashok Kumar

Opening of new expressway has in no way put an end to the travelling woes

- Photo: V.V. Krishnan

Where to go?: Traffic jams at the toll plaza on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway are the order of the day .

NEW DELHI: More than a fortnight after the much-awaited Delhi-Gurgaon expressway became operational, the promised “smooth and faster” journey to and from the neighbouring town in Haryana continues to elude Delhi’s commuters.

Stuck in huge traffic jams and waiting for their turn to pay the toll tax, commuters do not think that the opening of the new expressway has in any way reduced their travelling woes. “Very little seems to have changed. It is still a nightmarish experience travelling to Gurgaon. Only that earlier we were stuck in traffic jams; now we have to wait for our turn to pay the tax,” said Rajeev Naik, who works for a multi-national company in Gurgaon.

Upset at having to wait almost an hour in the queue, 37-year-old Vivek Singhal said: “What are these people doing here if they cannot manage traffic? It is a complete mess. They should not be paid a single penny.”

Conceding that commuters usually get stuck in long queues and are made to wait for 30 to 40 minutes on an average, a toll collector at the plaza said: “The problem of build-up is more severe during the morning and evening rush hours. At times the jams extend up to a kilometre. The vehicles are sometimes allowed to pass without paying the tax to clear the mess. Since this morning we have opened the VIP channel thrice to ease the traffic build-up.”

Describing the chaos as “initial hiccups”, an official of D.S Constructions that built the expressway attributed it to motorists mostly paying the tax in cash instead of other much easier modes of payment. “There are three ways to pay the toll. It can be paid in cash at the toll plaza or through a smart card or a smart tag. There are separate lanes for those holding smart cards and tags and there is never a queue in those lanes,” he said. “The registration process for the travel cards and tags was initiated in January and the response has been huge. Till date around 22,000 smart cards and tags have been sold. It is a high-density corridor and commuters must avail themselves of the facilities of smart cards and tags to avoid getting stuck in long queues,” he added. “Hoardings and banners have been put up on the entire expressway to create awareness about these facilities and a number of ‘Point of Sale’ offices have also been set up to sell the cards and tags,” the official asserted.

In a related development, the National Highways Authority of India has asked the company managing the toll plaza to increase lane configurations in both directions, put up more sign boards to make people aware of toll etiquettes, and take appropriate steps to ensure a free flow of traffic .

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