Lorry owners to protest against exorbitant toll on state highways

Federation of Karnataka State Lorry Owners and Agents Association has set July 23 as deadline for removing RTO checkposts in the state.

The Federation president G R Shanmugappa said Karnataka should follow the footsteps of other state governments to ease the burden of transporters.

“When most of the states, including Maharashtra, have stopped collecting toll along the state highways, Karnataka is preparing to make money without doing any work on 19 state highways spreading over 1,535 km. We pay Rs 25,000 per lorry for using national highways. Collecting toll on state highways will put an additional burden of Rs 10,000. The state government should think of taking progressive measures,” he said.

Shanmugappa alleged that Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE) was collecting toll Hubballi-Gabbur Road though it has grossed over Rs 700 crore.

“NICE invested only Rs 65 crore and now continues to collect toll for decades. The same pattern can be seen in different stretches of its roads,” he said adding that the state government should take measures curb the malpractice.

Stating that lorry owners will meet on July 23 and decide the next course of action, he said the state government should do away with RTO booths at every district border. “The introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) has eliminated the need for paying local taxes and helped us to transport goods faster,” he said.

The lorry owners said the state government should put off E-Sugam, a procedure to collect tax set by the Commercial Taxes department of Karnataka.