The Road Transport and Highways Ministry is considering a plan to raise money from fuel stations located along the expressways by levying a commission on every litre of petrol or diesel sold.
The move comes after the road sector lost its exclusive rights to use the erstwhile road cess (which is now known as the road and infrastructure cess) at a time when it faces the daunting task of building roads under the Bharatmala project, the cost of which run into several crores.
“We have to implement Bharatmala Phase-I of 24,000 km, on which we are spending Rs 7.5 lakh crore. For that, we do not have any budgetary provision for this. Our budgetary support surely has increased from about Rs 78,000 crore to about Rs 83,000 crore. This will be used for land acquisition,” Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport Highways and MSME, said in a conference on Monday.
