The Tollgate Virodhi Horata Samithi, Surathkal, has decided to lay a siege to the “illegal” toll plaza at NIT-K on National Highway 66 in the last week of this month in protest against the State government’s inaction in closing down the plaza, despite the many assurances.
The samithi held a meeting in this connection at Surathkal on Wednesday and decided to intensify the struggle.
Despite the assurances by Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, Mangaluru North MLA Y. Bharath Shetty to close down the toll plaza within 90 days from March 22, the toll plaza continues to function, said samithi president Muneer Katipalla.
In a statement, he said that toll collection has become a mafia work where over ₹15 lakh is being collected every day. The National Highways Authority of India also spends crores of rupees every year on the maintenance of the highway. Thus, collection and expenditure has taken the mafia form, he said.
