The Madurai Lorry Owners’ Association has appealed to the National Highways Authority of India to collect concessional toll fee for all vehicles with commercial permit got from the Regional Transport Offices in Madurai district.
In a resolution passed at its annual general meeting held last week at Courtallam, the association said that the 50 per cent concessional toll fee, now collected at the Chittampatti toll plaza on the Madurai-Tiruchi highway for commercial vehicles registered in Madurai district, should be extended to all vehicles with ‘commercial permit.’ At present, the concession is available for vehicles registered with the RTOs in Madurai (TN 58, 59 and 64) only.
The president of the association, C. Sathiah, said that lorry operators of Madurai district used vehicles registered in different places and the concessional toll did not help them in any way. In order to enable commercial vehicles enjoy the benefit, the NHAI should extend the concession to all vehicles operated from the district for commercial purpose. The vehicles would produce the permit given by the Madurai RTOs while paying toll at the Chittampatti toll plaza. Such an arrangement, he said, was in existence at the Omalur toll plaza in Salem district.
In another resolution, the association appealed to the NHAI to relocate the proposed toll plaza near the SIDCO Industrial Estate in Kappalur to a place at least two kilometres away from the present location.
The following were elected office-bearers of the association for 2012-15 at the meeting: C. Sathiah (president); K. N. Shaul Hameed (secretary); S. P. Sethu (treasurer); A. Jahaber, and M. Ganesan (vice-presidents); and P. Manian and K. B. Kalyanasundaram (joint secretaries).
Keywords: Madurai Lorry Owners’ Association, toll fee issue, NHAI
