Samajwadi flags double as 'passes' at UP toll plazas

SP vehicles allowed to pass without paying road fee

You only have to hoist a flag of the ruling Samajwadi Party on your vehicle to go unstopped through the toll plazas in Uttar Pradesh without paying the toll charges. 

Scared of being thrashed, the toll plaza employees look the other way and open the gates to allow the flag bearing vehicles.

That the SP flags do double as toll passes was witnessed at the toll plazas on the national highway a couple of days back when the SP had organised a rally at Gonda, when hundreds of vehicles bearing the ruling party flags crossed the toll without paying the charges. The toll employees did not bother to ask them to pay.

According to a report as many as 600 such vehicles had crossed the toll plaza at Ahmedpur on the day of the rally. The report said the toll company that manages the plaza suffered a huge loss as a result. 

It also said the police had instructed the toll employees not to stop any vehicle which bore the SP flags. Eyewitnesses said some police personnel had been deployed at the toll plaza to facilitate smooth movement of party vehicles.

Employees at toll plazas in the state had also become the target of the SP leaders. Recently SP leaders had brutally assaulted toll plaza employees at Faizabad and Auraiya districts when the latter demanded charges.

One of the employees Hakim Singh had even suffered a fracture when he was thrashed by SP leader Pappu Yadav and his goons at a toll plaza in Faizabad district.

Another SP leader Rinkesh Yadav and his goons thrashed a toll plaza employee at Auraiya on when the latter demanded payment of charges to allow his vehicles through. The entire incident was captured on a CCTV camera.

A month ago, an SP legislator and his goons had thrashed the staff at a toll plaza at Allahabad for asking him to pay the charges. They had brutally assaulted the toll plaza employees with rifle butts and sticks despite pleas from the terrified workers to stop the attack saying that the toll gates had been opened.

The SP leadership had then said action would be taken.The police had later arrested two SP leaders on charges of assaulting the employees.