Representative image of a toll plaza.
Credit: DH Photo
Bengaluru: The Karnataka Rajya Raitha Hitarakshna Sangha has called for a protest and march on May 21 against toll collection at the Somanahalli NHAI toll plaza, on Kanakapura Road.
The Sangha is also raising the lack of a service road and a bypass at Kaggalipura as major issues. They are demanding that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) not collect the toll until a service road is constructed and opened to the public, especially the farmers in the area, as they are forced to pay the full toll amount each time they pass through the tollgates.
The protest is set to begin at 9.30 am outside the APS Polytechnic college main gate.
Nadeem Pasha, state president of the Sangha, told DH that they have been protesting the lack of a service road and trying to impress upon the authorities the need for one for over the past two years. According to local residents, toll collection began last week, on May 9.
"We had raised this issue even before the toll plaza came up. We were informed that local residents would be exempt from toll payments. We are protesting because why must we pay the whole toll amount of Rs 85 for 60 km (for cars, jeeps, light vehicles) one-way even if we want to travel locally, within a few kilometres? That is unfair," he said.
The area has several colleges, schools, apartments, and villages within a five kilometre radius around the toll plaza.
Prashanth Hosadurga, advisor to the Sangha, also said that the toll plaza could have been shifted a few kilometres further south or north but the positioning makes it harder for people to access medical and educational resources on either side of the toll gate without "losing" money. "We keep travelling frequently across Somanahalli. It is like a major commercial hub here. Does that mean we have to pay multiple times a day?," he asked, noting that the stretch has become chaotic because road widening of the bypass has not been completed.