No toll on Outer Ring Road if 20 vehicles queue up

The Hyderabad Municipal Development Authority has decided to fix CCTV cameras and monitor them real-time, to move quickly and shorten the waiting time at toll plazas.

The municipal authority has also decided to mark a red line with a sensor at a distance where 20 four wheelers can be accommodated.

If there are more than 20 vehicles, they will be allowed to pass without paying the fee so as to cut the waiting time for motorists.

As per the agreement,  the toll agency, Eagle Infra India Limited, has to clear traffic at toll plazas without collecting any fee if more than 20 vehicles are made to wait.

The agency has been collecting fees even though more than 30 vehicles are in the queue. This has been irking commuters at toll plazas with heavy traffic, specifically near Gachibowli, Nanakramguda, Shamshabad and



Rajendernagar.

Traffic snarls have been reported at these toll plazas on a daily basis when compared to others.

Following this, the HMDA decided to bring in transparency to the operation by installing CCTV cameras and deputing staff to monitor them live.

The staff will move in if waiting time at the toll booths increases and the sensors on the red line indicate that more than 20 cars are waiting.

An official said that access to CCTV footage will be given to traffic police as part of a double check mechanism. The HMDA official said that if more than 20 vehicles are stuck at the toll booth, commuters can demand that the staff lift the boom barriers without fee until the waiting list eases.

He said that the HMDA would erect sign boards at 19 interchanges pertaining to free passage from toll plazas to facilitate commuters.