Bhaskar Data Story: What will be the harm of making toll plaza free, find out how many tolls come across the country in one day? How much does the government earn?
The farmer and the government are facing each other for 3 laws related to agriculture. The matter is not settled even by conversation. After the closure of India on December 8, farmers are now preparing for a big demonstration. On December 12, farmers' organizations are talking about freeing all toll plazas across the country. Farmer leader Darshan Pal says no tax will be paid on any toll plaza on the 12th.
But what will the government do to make the toll plaza free? Take this as an example of farmers protesting on the Punjab-Haryana border in September when 3 laws were passed. The demonstration caused a loss of Rs 150 crore in revenue from the toll plaza in 50 days.
During the lockdown, when it was toll free from March 25 to April 20, NHAI (National Highway Authority of India) is estimated to have lost revenue of Rs 1822 crore. NHAI keeps track of toll taxes collected from toll plazas on highways.
How much revenue does NHAI get from toll every year? How much will the government earn? What is this toll tax? Let's find out ...
In our country, everything from buying a vehicle to operating it has to be taxed. It also has to pay petrol-diesel, along with tax. Road cess, road tax and toll tax M3 tax has to be paid after purchasing the vehicle. Road tax has to be paid at the time of purchase of the vehicle. Road cess has to be paid every time we prove petrol or diesel and toll tax has to be paid when passing through the highway.
Toll tax does not seem to be on every road. Some are just on the road. The road is widened to save both time and fuel. Toll tax seems to be on such roads. Toll taxes do not have a fixed price that varies from place to place. Toll tax depends on the length and width of the road. The longer the road, the higher the toll tax. There is no toll tax on two-wheelers on most roads except in some places.
More than Rs 73 crore toll tax is paid every day.
According to NHAI, as of March 2020, there were 566 toll plazas across the country. The length of highways across the country was 29 thousand 666 km. Length is 10% higher than last year. In the year 2019-20, i.e. from April 2019 to March 2020, NHAI collected toll tax of Rs 26,851 crore from the toll plaza built on the highway. This means a toll tax of about Rs 2,238 crore per month and Rs 73.5 crore per day.
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However per km, this tax collection was less than the year 2018-19. In the year 2019-20, NHAI collected tax of Rs 90.5 lakh per km. In the year 2018-19, 24,997 km. The tax was Rs 24,396 crore, or Rs 97.5 lakh per km that year. This money is used for the repair and maintenance of highways. The bigger the car, the more tax is charged.
