PAC voices worries about FASTags and highway toll hikes
FASTags
not properly working, extra money charged by
toll plazas
and the quality of roads being constructed were some of the issues that drew concern from the members of Parliament's
Public Accounts Committee
, its chairperson and Congress MP
K C Venugopal
said Thursday.
The recent collapse of a part of a national highway in Kerala was also flagged at the meeting, and a high-level committee will be travelling to the southern state to look into the matter, he added.
The
National Highways Authority of India
chairperson and the Transport secretary appeared before the committee, which discussed "levy and regulation of fees, tariffs, user charges etc. on public infrastructure and other public utilities".
"The committee was very concerned about these issues," he said, referring to the complaints over FASTags, tolls and quality of roads.
The committee, sources said, suggested rationalisation of money being charged to commuters and also proper auditing.
Transport ministry officials said they are devising a programme that will allow frequent highway users to pay tolls once a year to reduce the hassle of repeated payments every time they travel, sources added.
Concerns over traffic at toll plazas with commuters forced to spend a long time despite having FASTags have often been raised in the past.
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