Protest to announce closure of toll gate in Mangaluru

Various organisations led by the Action Committee against Surathkal Toll Gate on Tuesday staged a protest near the gate demanding announcement of a date for its removal.

The committee convenor Muneer Katipalla, who addressed the protestors, alleged that the elected representatives are only giving false assurances regarding the closure. If the administration fails to announce the closure date, the committee itself will remove it with the participation of local people, he said.

Youth Congress leader Mithun Rai, who also spoke, asked why the BJP elected representatives have distanced themselves from the protest to meet a long-pending demand of the people.

Former MLAs Abhayachandra Jain, B A Mohiyuddin Bava and Congress leader Shashidhar Hegde were among those who took part in the protest.

Deputy Tahsildar Naveen arrived at the spot and accepted a memorandum from the protestors. The distance between the toll plazas at Surathkal and nearby Hejamadi is less than 10 km. The National Highways (NH) guidelines insist that the distance between two toll plazas should be 40 km.

The Surathkal toll Virodhi Samiti had been staging protests demanding closure of the toll gate.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had announced in August that the toll gate will be merged with the one at Hejamadi.