The Mamata Banerjee government has identified 28 state highway stretches where toll tax can be levied in the next few months. “The PWD has identified 28 stretches on state highways where toll tax can easily be levied.

The PWD has also started initiatives to construct toll plazas on these stretches. The user charges could be levied within the next few months,” said a senior state government official.

According to sources, the development is deemed significant as chief minister Mamata Banerjee was so far against levying user charges on roads as it could place an additional burden on common people.

“Whenever a proposal was placed before the chief minister on levying user charges on roads, it was rejected. But since the state government is struggling to arrange funds to run 70-odd welfare schemes in the state, it appears that the proposal to levy user charges on roads has taken final shape,” said a bureaucrat.

Construction of toll plazas in the proposed state highway stretches apart, the rates of toll tax for various categories of vehicles are also being fixed for the first time.

Sources said that the Bengal government had already amended the State Highways Act, 1964, to levy user charges on state highways in 2018. However, owing to the chief minister’s reservations, toll tax could not be levied on the state highways so far.

A senior bureaucrat said that considering Mamata’s unwillingness to put any additional burden on common people, motorbikes, private passenger cars and buses have initially been left out of the toll tax structure.

Accordng to the rough toll tax structure, light commercial vehicles and light goods vehicles will be charged Rs 1.64 and Rs 1.92 per kilometre on two-lane and four-lane highways, respectively.

For trucks, the proposed rate is Rs 3.70 and Rs 4.66 per kilometre on two-lane and four-lane highways, respectively. For multi-axel vehicles, the rate will vary between Rs 5.75 and Rs 8.91 per kilometre based on the number of axles and whether the highway is two-lane or four-lane.

Stretches identified for levying toll include Panagarh-Illambazar road, Chanditala-Seakhala- Champadanga Road and Dankuni-Chandannagar-Mogra. The state government has decided to levy user charges on certain stretches of these roads. The length of the stretches where user charges will be levied will vary between 10km to 40km.

PWD engineers said as per a rough estimate the state could generate more than Rs 300 crore every year by levying toll tax on these 28 stretches.

Sources in the state government said the decision to levy toll tax on state highways gives a clear hint that the state government was ready to rethink some of its previous policies for the sake of generating revenue.

“For example, the state government has decided to go for the direct sale of government land instead of leasing the plots out for longer. And now, the state government has decided to levy toll tax on state highways,” said a bureaucrat.