Amid a growing demand to abolish the toll plaza at NITK-Surthkal on NH 66 terming it illegal, the district administration on Saturday maintained that abolishing the plaza involved legal complications and it was working out towards finding a solution.
Responding to queries on the demand of the Surathkal Toll Gate Virodhi Horata Samiti here, Nalin Kumar Kateel, MP, said legal complications have to be resolved to merge or abolish the toll plaza. He had never said the toll plaza was a temporary one; but had spoken about its merger with the one at Hejamady, Mr. Kateel said.
Deputy Commissioner K.V. Rajendra said the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has clarified that nothing prevented it from having more than one toll plaza within a 60-km stretch of a particular national highway.
NH66 between Talapady and Surathkal was developed into four-lane under two different packages and NHAI was right in establishing toll plazas at Talapady and NITK, he said.
If the Surathkal toll plaza was to be abolished, the Union and the State Governments have to reimburse the cost incurred by the NHAI in developing the four-lane highway. The Government has already held three meetings with different stakeholders in this regard; but a solution was yet to be arrived, he said.
Meanwhile, the samiti in a statement on Saturday urged Mr. Kateel to arrange to hold a special meeting with NHAI officials and others on Monday when Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nithin Gadkari would be in Mangaluru.
Two years ago, Mr. Kateel and Mr. Gadkari in New Delhi announced about the meeting to abolish the toll plaza and at least now the issue should be resolved, samiti convener Muneer Katipalla said in a statement.
Instead of abolishing the plaza, the NHAI was threatening citizens protesting the toll collection with legal action, which was not desirable, Mr. Katipalla said, adding the citizens would intensify their strife if the government did not address their concern.
