Toll collection period in contracts to be extended to compensate operators

With toll collection on national highways suspended across the country amid the Covid-19 crisis, the operators will be compensated through extension of their collection period by the same number of days for which the non-tolling is in force.

The government has also invoked the “force majeure” clause — the term for an unforeseeable circumstance or incident that prevents someone from fulfilling a contract. It is included in contracts to remove liability for natural and unavoidable catastrophes that interrupt the expected course of events and restrict participants from fulfilling obligations.

The clause, said a National Highways Authority of India official, had been invoked for all such projects, as is allowed in the contracts signed with contractors.