Coronavirus: NHAI resumes toll collection on national highways as lockdown eases

The NHAI had suspended toll collection on all national highways after the 21-day nationwide lockdown was announced on March 24  

New Delhi: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) resumed toll collection on national highways from Monday. It comes as India is slowly easing the restrictions brought in to contain the coronavirus pandemic from today in order to revive stalled economic activities.

 The NHAI had suspended toll collection on all national highways after the 21-day nationwide lockdown was announced on March 24.

 Toll collection was also resumed at Badarpur toll plaza in New Delhi and Vashi toll plaza in Mumbai. Toll employees were seen back to work.

India is under a nationwide lockdown which was imposed on March 25 and later extended on April 14 to stem the spread of coronavirus which has claimed over 500 lives in the country.

In his address on April 14, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the extension of lockdown till May 3 and also said that restriction will be relaxed in places where there is no hotspot after April 20 soon.

The ministry of home affairs (MHA) on April 15 released new Lockdown Guidelines for the country listing select economic activities that will be allowed to function after April 20 only after the review of the COVID-19 situation in India.

Notably, the MHA had said that the revised guidelines will not apply in containment zones, as demarcated by states.