In a sigh of relief for people ahead of the Karnataka elections next month, authorities have withdrawn a 22 per cent took fee hike on the newly inaugurated Mysuru-Bengaluru expressway.
According to The Indian Express, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) project director B T Sridhar confirmed the revision in toll fee.
The NHAI was supposed to enforce the hike in the toll tariff but decided to change its decision. The agency increased the fee for cars from Rs 135 to Rs 165 for single journeys.
Built under the central government’s flagship programme, Bharatmala Pariyojana (BMP), at a cost of Rs 8,480 crore, the 119-km expressway has helped cut down travel time between the two cities from three hours to 75 minutes. The expressway was inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi last month.
The fully access-controlled expressway has six to 10 lanes and was built in two phases – from end to end, it has 50 bypasses; 64 underpasses, including pedestrian underpasses; 11 overpasses; 19 large bridges; 44 small bridges and four railway overbridges. It also has greenfield sections that form bypasses around Bidadi (7 km), Ramanagara-Channapatna (22 km), Maddur (7 km) Mandya (10 km) and Srirangapatna (7 km).
The work on the project officially began in 2019 and was expected to be completed in two years, ie, by 2021, but was delayed due to several hurdles, including the Covid-19 pandemic that brought construction work to a standstill for several months.
Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha said that the hike was not restricted only to the Bengaluru-Mysuru expressway but to the entire country.
“I spoke to the NHAI chairman and project director and chief engineer of the Bengaluru regional office. There is some work pending on the stretch. We can have a rethink on the hike once they are completed,” Indian Express quoted Simha as saying.
However, the hike in toll tariffs was not withdrawn on other stretches.
As per the revised toll price, car travellers will shell out Rs 125 for taking 128.850-km section of Hubballi to Hospet section (Nalwadi toll plaza) on NH-63 and Rs 125 in Chitradurga-Davangere stretch (Hebbalu toll plaza) on NH-48 and Rs 105 in Hubli-Hospet section (Halligudi toll plaza).
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