Paliyekkara on National Highway 544, the highest-earning toll plaza in Kerala

Background

The Thrissur District Collector has directed the National Highways Authority of India to examine a barrier-free tolling system at Paliyekkara on the lines of the model adopted at Tambaram in Tamil Nadu, a direction given at a meeting of the National Highway Task Force chaired by the Collector on traffic delays and safety gaps along the stretch. Paliyekkara stands in Thrissur district on National Highway 544. Over seven financial years the plaza collected ₹925 crore, more than any other toll booth in Kerala, and figures placed in Parliament by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways put its daily average takings at ₹5.33 lakh. Its annual collections routinely cross the ₹100-crore mark. Kerala's other toll plazas are at Kumbalam, Ponnarimangalam, Kollam, Thiruvallam, Panniyankara, Pampampallam and Thiruvangad; of these only Panniyankara and Pampampallam have also crossed ₹100 crore in yearly revenue.