Dherowal toll barrier auctioned for Rs 19.7 crore

The State Taxes and Excise Department has secured a hike of 3 per cent in the auction of the Dherowal inter-state toll tax barrier for Rs 19.70 crore as against the reserve price of Rs 19.08 crore. The key toll barrier at Baddi, however, could not be auctioned, as only one application was received.

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The state government had worked out the reserve price of each barrier by revising the last year’s allotted price by around 7 per cent. The auction for 2025-26 for all inter-state toll barriers of Baddi revenue district was held at Baddi under the chairmanship of Solan Deputy Commissioner Manmohan Sharma.

Deputy Commissioner (Excise) of Baddi revenue district Vinod Singh Dogra said that the reserve price of the Baddi toll barrier was fixed at Rs 27.21 crore while the reserve price for the Dherowal barrier was Rs 19.08 crore. He added that only one application was received for the Baddi toll barrier and the Deputy Commissioner, as the presiding officer, rejected it.

Dogra said, “Two applications were received for the Dherowal barrier and one of them was rejected after it was found to be incorrect and the second application received from M/s Desh Raj and Veena Rani for Rs 19.7 crore, which was higher than the reserve price, was granted.”

He said hat M/s Desh Raj and Veena Rani were declared successful bidders for the Dherowal barrier and the Baddi barrier was not allotted in the absence of a correct application and bid.

Dogra said that Vivek Kumar, Additional Commissioner, State Tax and Excise (South Zone), and Bhup Ram Sharma, Deputy Commissioner, State Tax and Excise (South Zone), Parwanoo were present during the auction.