HC vacates stay on BIA road toll collection

The Karnataka High Court on Thursday vacated the stay on the collection of toll on the NH-7 (Bangalore-Bellary road), leading to the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA). The stay was imposed by a lower court in Devanahalli.

Justice Ravi Malimath vacated the stay and adjourned the case for further hearing. The Navayuga Devanahalli Tollway Private Limited (NDTPL) had approached the high court seeking review of the lower court order.

In April 2012, a Devanahalli judicial magistrate had stayed the collection of toll on the road leading to the BIA. The petition in the lower court was filed by a set of advocates against the contractor Navayuga Constructions and the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), contending that the toll was a heavy burden on farmers who use the airport road to ferry agricultural produce to Bangalore and other parts of the state.

Navayuga Constructions toll manager Srinivas told Deccan Herald that they would begin the toll collection from Friday, as and when they receive the order copy from the high court.

“Construction of six toll booths, among the 12 new set of booths, coming up before the trumpet interchange is yet to be completed. Hence, we will be collecting toll while vehicles come out of the airport and head towards city. Temporary toll booths are already in place for this purpose,” he said.

A senior official from the NHAI said the above arrangement won’t disrupt the traffic going to BIA.

He added that once the new toll booths are in place, toll collection would begin before the trumpet interchange. “Commuters should not think that the toll collection as a burden. Easy and faster access to BIA is what they are being benefitted with. Once the elevated road project to the BIA gets over, the connectivity would be more smoother and faster,” he said.

The general secretary of Bangalore Tourist Taxi Owners' Association Radhakrishna Holla said the vacation of stay comes as a burden to them and they have to inevitably increase the taxi fare to BIA soon.

“We will go through the order and decide on the further course of action on Friday,” he said. The association had earlier staged protests against the toll collection along the road to the BIA.