[ajmat]

Frankly all these exempt categories need to travel in official cars with some kind of Fasttag variation which permits them to pass.

No drama, no disputes.

[frewper]

Originally Posted by Mustang Sammy

Yes I get business travel reimbursed, but when I go on vacation I do not claim my hotel bills and plane ticket. Government employees use these privileges for work and personal travel.

You are claiming that Govt employees get their personal hotel bills and plane tickets reimbursed by the exchequer? Do you have any proof of this ? Or is this just a random thoughts that you are putting out. Would be great if you can back your claims by some hard data and not go by one off incidents if any.


I can assure you there is no Govt servant who is getting their Hotel bills and Plane ticket for personal travel reimbursed.

[Mustang Sammy]

Originally Posted by frewper

You are claiming that Govt employees get their personal hotel bills and plane tickets reimbursed by the exchequer? Do you have any proof of this ? Or is this just a random thoughts that you are putting out. Would be great if you can back your claims by some hard data and not go by one off incidents if any.


I can assure you there is no Govt servant who is getting their Hotel bills and Plane ticket for personal travel reimbursed.

I am not claiming that. It was a counter to the previous poster saying that because private sector employees reimburse business travel, government employees can travel for free on toll roads.
That free travel should be only for work, not for personal trips.

[KrisTvpm]

Originally Posted by SmartCat

All of us will stop complaining if -
(14) Teambhp members
is added to the list.

I won't!

I will proudly defy this *fictitious* rule if implemented, and will continue to pay toll-fare applicable for a commoner,
just as I have forbidden womenfolk of my family from availing any bus-ticket subsidy!

If they can afford food at a 5* facility, they don't need free bus rides

Similarly, it's not about whether I'm part of the unfairly benefited group - if it's unfair, it's just so even if I'm a beneficiary and I'll oppose it!

And I oppose tollfree rides for most of the sarkari babu's/sections listed in OP's pic, except hon. President/PM/governors/military/ambulance/police.

[McLaren Rulez]

The message on the board posted by the OP doesn't even make sense. It says "the following types of vehicles are exempt from toll". And the list is a list of titles that are associated with people - e.g. the President of India.

The correct way is probably to exempt government vehicles, defence vehicles, ambulances etc regardless of who is occupying it. And as pointed out, there is a FastTag that is exactly for this. It should be made mandatory and function exactly like a normal FastTag.

[anjan_c2007]

As per the protocol, Speaker of the Lok Sabha is #3 in the hierarchy just below the Vice President of India, who is also Chairman, Rajya Sabha. He needs to be listed in a dignified manner at #3 and not clubbed with Speakers of State Assemblies at a much lower rank below many others. Most airports maintain such a dignified protocol listing for the categories of persons who do not need to undergo security checks.

As a Central official travelling through highways, my experience has been that National Highways as a rule exempt vehicles with the "Government of India" tags. But on many State Highways the exemption is discretionary. Of course, during official trips, all such toll receipts for toll taxes paid are reimbursable.

[frewper]

Originally Posted by Mustang Sammy

I am not claiming that. It was a counter to the previous poster saying that because private sector employees reimburse business travel, government employees can travel for free on toll roads.
That free travel should be only for work, not for personal trips.

Merely countering something which is not true, for the sake of it wont lead us anywhere now does it? At-least it should be backed by some logic or hard data.

You still use the words "free travel" rather than being specific. Please can you explain what do you mean by free travel? What is it that is given for "free" to a govt employee? Free fuel ? Free Car ? Free Accommodation? Free Flight ?

As of today if you look at any positions within the govt, only bureaucrats are given cars for official use. Now a days these cars, are leased and not purchased, (apart from sensitive positions) and are only used for official purposed mainly. And that too it has a limitation on the number of km's run per month. Its not an unlimited free for all, as we all think.

So there in nothing called as free car.
There is nothing called as free fuel.
No one is given free accommodation for personal travel.
No one is given free flights.

So what is it exactly? Free "toll" for personal travel. So look at it objectively.

A Govt Employee who is given a meagre salary, may take his family on a road trip 2 times a year. But does he do that every year of his life? answer should be NO. How much toll money do you think he has really saved ? Do you think his savings on toll makes him feel proud ?

If I look back to my 15 years worth of road trips, and account for all the toll that I have paid, its merely a drop in the bucket for me to even think about it. And I have taken a lot of road trips in my life.

So why are we behind the soul so a underpaid govt employee who merely does a few trip in his life, and be jealous of privileges worth pennies being allotted to them.

The right question that we should be asking is why isn't govt employees being paid equally as private employees and make everyone pay toll equally? Then the answer is that it will cost the exchequer degree of magnitude higher than just giving "free" toll worth pennies.

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by frewper

So why are we behind the soul so a underpaid govt employee who merely does a few trip in his life, and be jealous of privileges worth pennies being allotted to them.
.

I seem to be missing something here. This is a list to explicitly exclude the ordinary govt employee, and on the first page, apart from the bottom two which can be kept exempted, the rest can easily pay if they want. I doubt at that level there is a lack of "salary". But they are exempted just because of the VIP status prevalent and understood in India.

So if the ordinary Govt employee is not even deemed worthy for toll exemption by another govt department, why is he seeking exemption at the toll booth by flashing his ID card? Why not pay up and not hold the queue behind? That battle should be internal, with the NHAi and others, to give blanket exemption, no?

I have faced this personally, when I told my boss in my govt employment period of 4 years, that my salary is too low, I need more. He said if you dont like this salary, find another job. So I did. So can they.

[fulcrum29]

Originally Posted by Mustang Sammy

Yes I get business travel reimbursed, but when I go on vacation I do not claim my hotel bills and plane ticket. Government employees use these privileges for work and personal travel.



I take it you have never been stuck behind some goon who holds up traffic for 15-20 minutes arguing with the tollbooth attendant on why he needs to be let through without paying.

Besides it is a matter of principle (those do exist in India still) that privileges given for work should not be abused for personal use. No need to get personal.
BTW Those who honk when the light turns green are precisely those who bully their way through toll booths.

To be honest its never happened with me and I'm sure the excrutiatingly long 15-20 min wait time that you were put through wouldn't have happened to you more than once. How are you so sure that the "goon" you so non-chalantly referred to was mis-using a work privilege for personal use? It's a matter of principle ( I'm sure you're aware they still do exist in India) that you don't blame someone for a crime they've not committed using the half baked information you've gathered sitting 5 cars behind them in a jam. If the guy is entitled to not pay toll, he will NOT pay toll, even at the cost of rubbing a few irritable drivers the wrong way.
Also, the list stated in this thread is not exhaustive by any sense of the word. There are multiple letters subsequently released by NHAI regarding exemption of toll for government officers and other employees while travelling on duty even in their private cars. Production of these letters on the toll booth will lead to an emeption of the toll.So the guy who you dismissed as a "goon" was probably a government employee entitled for exemption of toll trying to rightfully defend his case against an uneducated toll booth employee who was not aware of the current rule position.

[ajmat]

Out of curiosity, do the gods of Antillia and the convoy pay the toll on the Worli bridge?

[ABHI_1512]

Originally Posted by ajmat

Out of curiosity, do the gods of Antillia and the convoy pay the toll on the Worli bridge?

Of course they will, since apparently they have helped the Indian economy by spending crores of money on a wedding. Why would they think otherwise while using a bridge ?

I can even imagine the whole convoy with security provided by the government stopping to pay the tolls through Fastag.

[thanixravindran]

Originally Posted by frewper

A Govt Employee who is given a meagre salary, may take his family on a road trip 2 times a year. But does he do that every year of his life? answer should be NO. How much toll money do you think he has really saved ? Do you think his savings on toll makes him feel proud ?

So why are we behind the soul so a underpaid govt employee who merely does a few trip in his life, and be jealous of privileges worth pennies being allotted to them.

The right question that we should be asking is why isn't govt employees being paid equally as private employees and make everyone pay toll equally? Then the answer is that it will cost the exchequer degree of magnitude higher than just giving "free" toll worth pennies.

I didn't know that Government job is a conscription that poor souls are made to work for underpaid wages. Irony is that it is the Government that fixes wages for its own employees and expected to prescribe minimum wages for organized and unorganized sector. And they are underpaying their own employees.

Apart from knowledge workers like IT industry, do you have any data on the common private sector salary and comparison with Government sector salary?

Finally, no one has any issue if Government employees can have perks like toll, fuel, etc. fully sponsored by their employer and even our beloved FM can waive the perquisites tax on it. But till then, let us not trivialize the entitlement culture.