15 km toll-free ride: Gurgaon's Kherki Daula toll plaza to move to Pachgaon, bringing huge relief to Delhi-NCR office-goers

In big relief for lakhs of office-goers and daily travellers, the government has approved the long-pending move to shift Gurgaon's Kherki Daula toll plaza to Pachgaon, beyond Manesar, on the busy Delhi-Jaipur highway (NH-48). The move will ease traffic congestion and cut costs for those commuting between Delhi and Manesar.

According to a report by TOI, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has cleared the plan. To avoid future traffic jams at the new location, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will set up a Multi Lane Free Flow (MLFF) toll collection system. In this system, vehicles won’t need to stop, cameras will read registration numbers and deduct toll from FASTag wallets directly.

No more toll for Delhi-Manesar commuters

Once the toll plaza is moved over 15 km away from Gurgaon, people travelling between Delhi and Manesar won’t have to pay any toll at all. Locals have been demanding this change since 2014, arguing that the toll has already recovered more money than what was spent to build the road. In fact, the government told Lok Sabha in March that Rs 2,775 crore had been collected from tolls, which is 11% more than the Rs 2,489 crore spent on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway.

Land provided, work to start soon

Sources told TOI that the Haryana government has given around 28 acres of land to the NHAI for the new toll plaza. It will be set up near the Pachgaon interchange, where the Western Peripheral Expressway meets NH-48. The location was chosen to ensure smooth flow of vehicles and to avoid further tolling for those coming from the Dwarka Expressway side and heading towards Jaipur.

Tech-driven toll collection

The MLFF system will bring a big change. Since there will be no physical barrier or stopping point, traffic jams like the ones currently seen at Kherki Daula can be avoided. A source also said that once the annual toll pass for private vehicles is introduced, many current issues will be resolved automatically.

Longstanding demand finally met

The decision fulfils a promise made several times over the past 7–8 years by both Haryana and central governments. Locals near the Kherki Daula toll plaza have long protested, saying toll operators have made enough profit and that the tolling has caused daily inconvenience.

Impact on Delhi's borders?

TOI also reports that this move could now increase pressure on the Delhi government and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to remove physical toll booths on the capital’s borders. These booths often cause major traffic jams, which defeat the purpose of building high-speed expressways for faster travel.

Inputs from TOI