AAP leader Raghav Chadha calls highway tolls an organised loot
Chadha further alleged that toll collection often continued even after the full cost of road construction had been recovered.
AAP MP Raghav Chadha during the Winter session of Parliament, in New Delhi, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (PTI)
NEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Raghav Chadha on Monday called the country's highway toll collection an "organised loot", saying mismanagement and excessive charges were placing an "unbearable" burden on commuters.
"Toll is taking a big toll on the people of India," Chadha said, arguing that "persistent congestion, utter mismanagement and over-profiteering" at toll plazas had turned the experience of road users from "inconvenience to injustice".
Raising the issue through a zero hour mention in the Rajya Sabha, the MP claimed toll payments had become a form of "harassment", contending that Indians already face one of the highest tax incidences on road use.
He noted that buyers pay GST on vehicles purchased with income that has already been taxed, in addition to road tax and infrastructure cess. Fuel purchases, he added, attract excise duty, special excise duty, VAT, road development cess and infrastructure cess.
"On top of these, toll is to be paid on highways. This is becoming unbearable for citizens," he said.
He said the situation was worsened by the "extremely poor quality" of many roads, pointing to deficiencies such as inadequate drainage, lack of lane markings, poor lighting and insufficient safety infrastructure. Poor maintenance, leading to potholes, black spots and surface deformities, was a reason for thousands of road-accident deaths each year, he added.
Chadha cited recent Kerala and Jammu & Kashmir High Court rulings that operators could not collect toll on roads that were not maintained to required standards.
He also highlighted frequent congestion and delays at toll plazas due to lane closures and poor management. "Highways are meant for seamless connectivity, seamless mobility. But who will calculate the cost of congestion at toll plazas?" he said, listing wasted fuel, lost productivity, missed appointments and mental agony as hidden costs borne by commuters.
"If you add all these costs, you will find that they are an invisible cost to the economy," he said.
Chadha further alleged that toll collection often continued even after the full cost of road construction had been recovered.
"This is legalised loot, which has to be stopped," he said, urging the government to mandate that any delay exceeding five minutes at a toll plaza should automatically grant vehicles free passage.
Javed Ali Khan (Samajwadi Party) raised the issue of unofficial order of the Uttar Pradesh government to keep out any family with less than six members on ration cards from the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana -- a national public health insurance scheme of the Government of India that aims to provide free access to health insurance coverage for low income earners in the country.
The 2011 socio-economic and caste census identifies over 9 crore beneficiaries for the scheme in the state but only 5.38 crore have been covered, he said adding the gap between the intended beneficiaries and the ones enrolled for the scheme is huge.
Muzibulla Khan (BJD) demanded medical college and other facilities in Nabarangpur district of Odisha while Manan Kumar Mishra (BJP) pitched for double laning of the Gorakhpur-Gopalganj-Chapra rail line.
