Expressway toll rate revision put on hold

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru / Mandya

National Highways Authority of India ( NHAI ) has put on hold the revision of toll rates for the recently inaugurated BengaluruMysuru Expressway, Mysuru-Kodagu MP and BJP leader Pratap Simha has disclosed. “Mysuru-Bengaluru Expressway toll rate hike has been put on hold. Thank you to everyone,” Simha tweeted in Kannada.

The original decision would have entailed a hike by 22 per cent for using the Bengaluru-Nidaghatta stretch, starting Saturday. The two toll plazas in question are located in Kaniminike and Sheshagiri Halli. A notification to this effect was issued on Thursday. The decision comes in the backdrop of severe criticism by pro-Kannada organisations and opposition parties Congress and JD(S).

The latter has demanded that no tolls should be collected until all work on the Expressway is completed. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway on March 12. The toll collection started two days later. NHAI will continue levying the original toll rates.

Travelling between the Bengaluru-Nidaghatt a stretch of the expressway in a car would cost you a toll of Rs135, which is likely to go up to Rs165 after the revision. A return journey would cost Rs 205, but Rs 250 upon revision. Mini-buses, buses, commercial vehicles and earth movers would have to shell out even more for the same stretch