Quite confusing? NHAI in dock over new toll plaza on Jammu Ring Road

Agency makes two contradictory RTI replies; one says ‘no toll plaza’, another says ‘toll plaza exists’

Jammu: Two contradictory Right to Information (RTI) replies have put the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) in dock over establishment of a new toll plaza on the upcoming Jammu Ring Road starting from Raya Morh in Samba district up to Jagti in Jammu district.
The proposed Jammu ring road--a Greenfield alignment with four lane configuration—will have a total length of the road is 58.25-km-ong out of which 11.75-km are in hilly terrain. The ring road is being built to decongest Jammu city but will also give congestion free road to the defence vehicles for International Border. It will have two tunnels, eight flyovers, 16 underpasses, four viaducts, 31 minor bridges, 8 major bridges and 255 culverts, intersections, and project facilities.
In an RTI reply made this week, the Project Director, NHAI, PIU-Jammu, Y P S Jadon, revealed that “no new toll plaza is proposed on Jammu Ring Road”.
The reply was quite contradictory to another RTI reply of NHAI, made in response to the application filed by the noted activist Raman Sharma in August 2020, wherein it had claimed that “the toll plaza to be established at km 20.450. No such map (as sought by the applicant), site plan, yet available with this office”.
Pertinently, there had been strong protests by opposition parties against the establishment of proposed toll plazas on all upcoming national highways in Jammu and Kashmir.
“The government has installed four Toll Plazas around Jammu city with two others in the offing. The government policy of taxing Jammu and spending in Kashmir is akin to the popular adage of ‘robbing peter and paying paul’. It further smacked of a deeper conspiracy,” AAP leader Harsh Dev Singh had said.
Going by contradictory replies, it was not clear whether the NHAI has shelved the plan of establishing toll plazas on Jammu Ring road being constructed with an expenditure of Rs 2,100 crore where the farmers of 44 villages would be affected due to the project following stiff opposition by the political parties.
It is also not clear whether the NHAI will set up a toll plaza on the proposed Jammu Ring road which was very much there in the original map and plan.
In July this, Divisional Commissioner, Jammu Ramesh Kumar while conducting an extensive tour of Jammu Ring Road Project had disclosed that 74 percent work on Jammu Ring Road Project had been completed and the road would be ready by December 2022.
Updated On 9/29/2022 1:03:29 PM