When it comes to paying user charges, lawmakers need to take lead. But take the case of highway tolls and the ground reality becomes clear. In a written reply to Parliament, the minister of state for road transport and highways, Krishan Pal Gurjar, said that from sitting and former MPs and MLAs through members of various commissions and government officials to social activists and educational institutions?in short, a spectrum of those influencing public policy?have requested the government for exemption from paying tolls. And the names of a number of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha MPs figure in police complaints for misbehaving with toll plaza staff.