The toll gate of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) at Surathkal on the National Highway 66 will be shifted to the premises of the New Mangalore Port Authority (NMPA).
Toll from only such vehicles which enter and exit from the port will be collected later, according to Nalin Kumar Kateel, Member of Parliament, Dakshina Kannada.
It was decided in a meeting Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, had with the NHAI and with him (Mr. Kateel) in Delhi on March 15, Mr. Kateel said in a release on Tuesday.
The Minister instructed the NHAI to shift the toll gate to NMPA area as the gate at Surathkal has been causing inconvenience to people.
The Minister also instructed the NHAI to widen the highway stretch from Mani to Sampaje as a four-lane highway and widen the stretch from Sampaje to Madikeri, Mr. Kateel said.
Mahaveer Singh, member, NHAI (toll), R.K. Pandey, member, NHAI, and other senior officials were present in the meeting, he said.
Meanwhile, Muneer Katipalla, convener, Toll Virodhi Horata Samithi and State president of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), said in a statement that a padayatra from Hejmady toll gate to Surathkal toll gate to press for scrapping the Surathkal toll gate will be taken out on March 22.
He said that the samithi will continue its agitation till the NHAI issued an order on shifting the gate from Surathkal to NMPA. Mere oral observation by the Minister to shift the toll gate is not enough.
