Congress workers, pro-Kannada activists attempt to lay siege at Kaniminike near Bidadi, Sheshagirihalli near Ramanagar on the Highway
Mysore/Mysuru: Tension prevailed for over an hour as the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) started collecting toll on 56-km section of Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway till Nidaghatta from 8 am today, with Congress workers, pro-Kannada activists and other organisations making a bid to lay siege to Toll Plazas on the Highway, bringing the traffic to a grinding halt. The issue flared up two days after Prime Minister Modi dedicated the Expressway on Mar.12 at Gejjalagere near Mandya, claiming that the BJP led NDA Government is building Highways across the country.
Activists of pro-Kannada organisations attempted to lay siege to the Plaza near Kaniminike in the outskirts of Bengaluru, only to be thwarted by heavy Policemen, who had turned the Plaza into a fortress.
The technical glitches at the Toll Plaza made FASTag redundant and forced the card holders to pay the toll by cash.
The payment of toll by cash irked the already charged agitators further, who demanded the authorities concerned to rectify the issues, before collecting the toll.
At another Toll Plaza near Sheshagirihalli, Ramanagar, a section of Congress party workers under the banners of District Youth Congress Committee, Ramanagar and Bidadi Block Congress Committee protested the collection of toll, besides raising slogans against BJP led State and Central Governments for imposing the toll even as the works on basic infrastructural facilities, mainly service road remain to be completed.
They sat in the middle of the Highway and held empty milk cans, waved black flags opposing the imposition of toll. They alleged that the toll is also high burning the pockets of commuters of private vehicles (cars, LMVs and HMVs).
The protesters also engaged in a wordy duel with the Police for sometime. As the agitators refused to budge, the Police had to detain some of them and whisked them away in two KSRTC buses, thus facilitating the traffic movement.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, who claimed to be seized of the matter, said that he has also directed the authorities concerned to redress the issues.
It may be mentioned that NHAI had earlier decided to start collecting toll from Feb.28, but was deferred to Mar.14, in the wake of opposition from various quarters.
The toll on 118-km Expressway is expected to go up further, once the toll is introduced on Nidaghatta – Mysuru section too, the works of which are still ongoing, under the second package, in the coming days.
Toll packages
The vehicles have been categorised into six types. To travel on the Highway, car owners will have to pay Rs. 135 for a single trip on Bengaluru-Nidaghatta section, Rs. 205 for the return journey within a day. The toll for mini bus is Rs. 220 and for buses Rs. 460 (single journey).
Tourist Alert : KarnatakaSRTC plans to pass on the toll charges on to the passengers. A user fee of Rs 15 for Karnataka Sarige (super fast) , Rs 18 for Rajahamas (semi luxury) and Rs 20 for other Volvo and Multiaxle buses is going to be charged on the Bengaluru Mysuru Route.
“The technical glitches at the Toll Plaza made FASTag redundant and forced the card holders to pay the toll by cash”
Narendra Modi inaugurated boasting about India , which he always does, and this pleases IT Techie coolies as they think they are technologists even though they do mundane software coding , and then see what happens in India!
This is start of the chaos in this Highway, as the toll gates keep malfunctioning ,the traffic joining from the bypasses in Mandya, Chennapatna etc.. along the way, this Highway soon gets congested. Wait for the road deterioration too.
Indians love cars, Modi by defying world wide ban on Russian oil, got the oil at a discount. Still cretins like@Sanjay Kini praise electric buses , as eco friendly, when masive numbers of cars pollute the atmosphere , India being one of the worst polluters.
This Highway soon will become the criminal gangs paradise, as Malayalee crime barons resident in the UAE plan to divert their gold smuggling operations through Mysore airport, when it is ready to receive the direct flights from Abu Dhabi. This Highway will be thr oute for this gold distribution, which is already happening as the gold muddled through Kerala airports comes to Mysore through Wayanad-Nanjangud route already, and is beginning to get distributed to Mandya amd Maddur. Hence, these two places have jewellery shops coming up fast.
Just look at the number of Audis and BMWs in the Highway-they are used by the criminals recruited by the UAE crime boasses for their gold distribution business as well as their operations of Hawala money.