Holi rush: Traffic crawls at Jewar toll plaza on Yamuna Expressway due to absence of FASTag

3 km long traffic chaos at Jewar toll plaza on the Yamuna Expressway as a result of the absence of FASTag toll system and holi rush.

Representational Image

Greater Noida: A rush back home for a long weekend and Holi break led to a 3 km long traffic chaos at Jewar toll plaza on the Yamuna Expressway. The vehicles moved at a snail’s pace on the expressway’s toll plaza on Saturday (March 27), especially in the afternoon. The traffic chaos was a result of the absence of FASTag toll system and holi rush.

The long lines and huge pile of vehicles forced the commuters to take the issue up on social media. The netizens started posting pictures and videos of the situation and many users tagged Minister for road transport and highways, Nitin Gadkari, in their tweets. 

One such individual was identified as Manish Bajpai, a commuter, who posted, “This is the status of Yamuna Expressway Jewar toll plaza and the queue is 45 minutes long! Wondering how much fuel is burnt for no reason? Please do something to save this.” Vivek Gupta, another commuter, wrote, “Imagine spending 30 minutes on a toll plaza in 2021.”

Another commuter, Jitendra Singh straight-forwardly questioned the minister on Twitter. “Why the toll is not digitised. Where is your promise?” he asked.

Followed by another tweet by an individual stuck in the same traffic chaos, Mayank. He asked why the FASTag system, which is the digitalised toll system, was yet to be implemented on the Yamuna Expressway when most other highways across the country had adopted it. “The Yamuna Expressway is also in the same country. I am a frequent traveller on this expressway. If this is the situation of private tolls, the government should start controlling them. If we have to wait so much, why should we pay the toll?” asked Mayank.

Marked as one of the crucial connectivity between Delhi-Greater Noida-Agra, the 165 km long Yamuna expressway is also a significant route for small towners from western UP and Bihar. The Yamuna Expressway Authority has planned to implement FASTags on the expressway from April 1. The six lane highway witnesses 28,000-30,000 vehicles daily and the toll is still collected manually.