NHAI terminates contract of toll collection agency for misbehaving with army personnel

New Delhi, Aug 23 ( PTI) State-owned NHAI on Saturday said it has terminated the contract of a toll collection agency and debarred it from bid participation for one year, after its staff at the Bhuni Toll Plaza misbehaved with army personnel earlier this month.

In addition, NHAI said, it has imposed a penalty of Rs 20 lakh on the toll collecting agency and its performance security of Rs 3.66 crore will be encashed towards the repair/replacement cost of the damaged equipment and infrastructure at Bhuni Toll Plaza on the Meerut-Karnal section of NH-709A.

According to NHAI, a 'show-cause notice' was issued to the toll collecting agency M/s Dharm Singh, seeking an explanation about the incident.

"The reply from the agency was not found to be satisfactory. The agency was found to be in direct violation of contract obligations, involving misconduct by toll staff, physical altercation, damage to public property and disruption of fee collection operations," it said.

To avoid recurrence of such incidents in the future, the National Highways Authority of India said it has instructed all toll collection agencies to take strong action against their employees who indulge in such behaviour with the road users and public representatives.

NHAI said it has also issued directions to all toll collection agencies to provide training to toll plaza staff for good behaviour with the National Highway users.

The state-owned agency also said it is committed to providing a seamless travel experience on the National Highways, and unruly behaviour by the toll plaza staff with National Highway users cannot be tolerated under any circumstances. PTI BKS BAL BAL