In yet another incident of attack on toll staff, a group of local villagers barged into the office of the company operating the toll at the Kherki Dhaula toll plaza on Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway here in the early hours of Thursday. They beat up the staff following an altercation over payment of toll fee.
The company's cashier Sandeep jumped from the office building to avoid being caught by the attackers and injured himself, claimed the company. Four toll staff members, including Assistant Plaza Manager Ravinder, were beaten up by the locals.
Piyush Gandhi, project head, Skylark Group, the company that operates the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway, told The Hindu that a man, in his late fifties in his car was incessantly honking on Thursday night when toll attendant Sukhbir went up to him and asked him to wait patiently for his turn. “At this, the man came out of his vehicle and threatened to shoot Sukhbir. He even slapped the toll attendant. A scuffle ensued and the motorist fell on road,” said Mr. Gandhi.
The man then returned along with a group of young men around midnight and they barged into the company's office and attacked the staff. The entire incident has been caught on the closed-circuit television camera. The CCTV footage showed the toll staff being slapped and punched by the young men.
Mr. Gandhi said that the local villagers beating up and misbehaving with the toll staff was a routine. “We are in the process of making a formal complaint to the police in this connection,” said Mr. Gandhi.
Last May, a bus driver allegedly tried to run over toll manager Daya Ram Yadav when he asked the driver to slow down and pay the toll fee.
