All vehicles, such as trucks, plying on National Highways will not have to pay toll charges till midnight of November 11, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said.
“We realised that truckers are facing problems in getting change,” said Gadkari, after reports poured in of massive traffic queues on various National Highways as toll plazas either refused to accept ₹500/1,000notes or found it difficult to give back the change. Gadkari said road operators would be compensated for the loss in revenue.
The government also announced that passengers in trains can buy food from railway-approved caterers using these notes. While Mohd Jamshed, Member-Traffic, Indian Railways, said all food in stations and trains are “railway-approved catering”, sources said there was bound to be some hiccups on the ground.
There were some problems in counters where people came with ₹1,000 notes looking to buy platform tickets for ₹10, when the government said that counters will accept ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes, said Suresh Prabhu, Railway Minister .