No more free drives on Ambattur-Porur stretch

The MEP Chennai Byepass Toll Road Pvt Ltd, the operation, maintenance and tolling (OMT) concessionaire of the bypass, has decided to collect toll from vehicles for using nearly a 5-km stretch of the main carriageway. They were evading the toll fee in the bypass by entering and exiting through the service roads between Ambattur and Porur

Additional tollbooths would be set up at Porur, Vanagaram, Chettiyar Agaram Road and both sides of the service road at Ambattur Industrial Estate. The 32-km-long Chennai bypass connects Tambaram and Red Hills via Porur, Maduravoyal and Ambattur. State NHAI chief general manager V. Chinna Reddy said, “Vehicles can use the service roads along the main carriageway. But if they enter the carriageway, they are liable to pay toll.” As long as the bypass was maintained by the NHAI, the vehicles were allowed to use the Ambattur-Porur stretch without paying the toll fee.

The move to collect toll from vehicles using the 5-km-long stretch has evoked strong protest from the regular users. “Motorists, mostly city users, are using the Ambattur-Porur stretch of the bypass without paying any toll. The NHAI should not allow the concessionaire to collect toll from local users for using 4 to 5 km of the stretch,” said R. Sugumar, president of the Tamil Nadu Lorry Owners’ Federation.

R. Shanmugham, who resides in Korattur, said he had been using the Chennai bypass between Ambattur Industrial Estate and Porur for the last two years to reach his office in DLF IT Park. “It is a small stretch we are using. Why should we pay toll for it?” he says. A senior official of the NHAI said the Madras high court had stayed the proposal to set up additional booths on a petition filed by an individual. “We are going to move the court, seeking to vacate the stay to commence toll collection on the Ambattur-Porur stretch,” the official said.