E-way bills dip: 20L/day in Feb, but 1lakh in March

NEW DELHI: Vehicular movement on many stretches of the national highways linking major urban centres increased by more than 60%, and in some cases nearly doubled, on Monday, compared with the daily average during the past month. After 25 days, tolling on the NHs resumed as economic activities restarted in a graded way.The traffic flow on the Gurgaon-Jaipur NH stretch increased by more than 95% on Monday, reports Dipak Dash. The three toll plazas on this stretch registered 20,000 passenger cars during the day compared with the average traffic of 10,300 during the previous days.At Bhagan toll plaza on the Chandigarh-Delhi highway, the number of vehicles increased to 5,000 on Monday, up from 3,200 during the complete lockdown period. Data with GST network on e-way bills, however, suggested that there was only a minor rise in traffic with the number estimated at 3.3 lakh nationally on Monday, compared to a little under 3.2 lakh on Saturday. The number of e-way bills had dropped to just around one lakh when the lockdown began late last month, compared to close to 20 lakh a day in February. Trucks carrying goods that attract GST and where the value of consignment is above the prescribed value need to generate e-way bills. Toll operators told TOI that the increase in traffic flow was marginally more on stretches that are far away from major urban centres. The NHAI is compiling the data on traffic flow across toll plazas to assess the situation. “Significant increase on some stretches could be because stranded trucks have started moving,” said a toll operator.