Private cars must pay toll at Surathkal from July 16

Personal cars and other four-wheelers with KA 19 registration will have to pay toll at the Surathkal toll plaza on the National Highway 66 starting July 16.

The contractor of the plaza has fixed the toll at Rs 25. One can travel any number of times past the toll plaza in a month by purchasing a pass for Rs 265. The deputy commissioner has written to the police commissioner to provide suitable protection to the toll.

Messrs Keshav Agarwal, the firm operating the toll plaza in Surathkal since November 2018, had announced collection of toll from local vehicles from March 1. The local vehicles, however, were exempted from payment at the plaza following stiff opposition by the local residents on March 1.

The firm had said that it will incur a loss of Rs 2 lakh a day if it did not collect toll from the local vehicles and had written to the chairman of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). The NHAI had, in turn, written to the chief secretary on making arrangements for police protection and maintaining law and order during toll collection from all private vehicles.

The chief secretary, during a video conference with the deputy commissioner and NHAI officials this month, had directed the officials to make the necessary arrangements.

Hundreds of private cars pass through the toll daily. The firm had bid a huge amount for the contract, keeping in mind the movement of hundreds of private cars, including local, through the toll gate.