The tragic toll tale

India’s creaky infrastructure is in desperate need of upgradation; Public-private partnerships are the answer; Big-ticket initiatives are in the pipeline. Without better infrastructure, India is unlikely to ever make it to the A-list of the global economy. All this is well-known, and oft-repeated. But recent events show that the infrastructure policy have to take on board new risks and challenges. A key concern is the safety and security of the foot soldiers of the infrastructure industry. They are often among the most vulnerable.

Take toll roads as an example. The toll industry is growing briskly. There is a lot of emphasis on efficient toll collection, an important aspect of managing road projects. The National Highway Authority of India loses almost `300 crore, or 15 per cent of its toll revenue, due to pilferage at manual toll booths every year, according to official estimates. Industry observers say that since toll is mostly collected in cash, it is tough to account for every rupee. Often, lower than expected revenues are attributed to power outages, faulty machines and theft. Private companies involved in road projects are trying hard to plug leakages, by slowly shifting from manually-operated toll booths to those that use smart cards or tags.
But there is another side to this story. Several attacks on toll booths and their attendants over the past year show that building a road and checking for fraud is only part of the job. Making it safe for everyone, including the toll-booth attendant, is the crucial bit that remains. Last week, the picture got grimmer with a murder.
Umesh Kumar Pandey, 22, newly married, working as a toll-booth attendant, was shot dead by a man inside a white Bolero at the toll plaza in Kheri Daula in Gurgaon — one of the country’s busiest roads between Delhi and Jaipur. Reportedly, there was an argument between Pandey and those inside the Bolero over toll payment of `27. One of the men in the car settled the matter with a bullet. Then the assailants sped away. Pandey was dead by the time someone took his slumped body to a hospital.
Pandey used to get a monthly salary of `6,500. He used to send home `2,500. His family in Rewa, Madhya Pradesh, depended on that.
The police have now arrested two residents of a village near the plaza, and say threats over toll payment are not new, especially from people in surrounding villages. Residents of 20 nearby villages are exempted from toll payment anyway, but arguments often break out when they forget to carry proof of address.
The midnight murder has caused shock, horror, outrage all around. But this is not the first instance of violent intimidation of toll- booth operators. Nor is it likely to be the last.
Violence and vandalisation of toll booths are growing with the growth of the industry. Just a day after Pandey was shot, another gang opened fire and looted cash at another toll plaza on another national highway, this time towards east of Delhi. Here too, the miscreants sped away.
Protests against toll fees on a stretch of the highway leading to the Bengaluru international airport led to violence and temporary suspension of toll collection this April. Last year, at a toll booth in Gujarat, car-borne goons demanded free passage, claiming they were government employees. When the booth attendants demurred, the group attacked the toll cabin, destroyed its computer system, assaulted the staff and sped away with the day’s collection — over `26,000. According to a media report of the incident, “None of the accused were identified in the FIR and neither did the CCTV cameras, which were not working properly, capture images of any of the cars.”
In most such incidents, criminals are clearly involved. They sometimes meld with those opposing toll taxes per se. What adds to the problem is the exemption syndrome. There is a long “exemption list” which determines who can get a free ride on toll roads. It includes MPs, MLAs, official vehicles transporting and accompanying the President, the Vice-President, the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India, Union ministers, governors, lieutenant governors, chief ministers, presiding officers of Central and state legislatures, judges of the Supreme Court, Chief Justices of the high courts, ministers of state, judges of the high court and foreign dignitaries on state visit; official vehicles of Central and state armed forces in uniform, including paramilitary forces and police, executive magistrates on duty; ambulances and fire tenders and vehicles of persons using the highway for inspection, survey, construction, or operation and maintenance.
As exemptions become a badge of status and privilege, there are those with new wealth and power who seek to join such a list even if it is through force and violence. It is the rage of one such person which cost Umesh Kumar Pandey his life. Tomorrow it could be someone else. The concern for toll revenue losses is commendable. But it should be matched by determination to strengthen the safety and security of staff and of ordinary commuters who could be equally at risk.
A spokesman of the company that runs the Kheri Daula toll plaza where the shooting took place on September 23 told this writer on Monday that there was security cover around the toll booths and ‘‘bouncers” ensure that the cash that has been collected is transferred from the toll booths at regular intervals. Apart from safeguarding the cash, many fresh initiatives are now planned — installation of “high-tech CCTV cameras” outside each toll booth, stepping up of armed patrolling so that miscreants cannot escape and so on.
Sadly, on that fateful night, when Pandey was on duty, the existing security system failed.
A candle-light march to honour the memory of the young man from Rewa who was killed simply because he was trying to do his job will be fitting. Translating security plans into security practices so that they work at all times and there are no more victims like Pandey will be even better.

The writer is an expert on development issues in India and emerging economies. She can be reached at patralekha.chatterjee@gmail.com