Ponnarimangalam toll plaza opens on Thursday

KOCHI: With the construction of the service road parallel to the accident-prone Container Road reaching the final stage, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is set to open a toll plaza at Ponnarimangalam from Thursday.

District Collector K Mohammed Y Safirulla said the decision to open the toll plaza was taken at a joint meeting attended by people’s representatives, the public and NHAI officers. “Though the construction of Container Road was completed nearly four years ago, people had protested against toll collection.

“Now, with the construction of the service road, all the stakeholders agreed on restarting the toll collection. From Thursday, motorists have to give the toll for using the road,” Safirulla said.

As per the notification NHAI published in newspapers, the fee for a single trip for cars, jeeps and light motor vehicles (LMV) would be Rs 45. For return journeys via the plaza, they will be charged Rs 70.
For light commercial vehicles (LCV), Rs 75 will be charged for a single journey and Rs 155 for a double journey.

For buses and lorries, single and double journeys would cost Rs 160 and Rs 240, respectively. The monthly pass for cars, jeeps, vans and LMVs will be Rs 1,450. For LCVs, it will be Rs 2,545 and for buses and lorries, it will be Rs 5,335.

Though NHAI had initiated a move to open the toll plaza in August, 2015, stiff resistance from Mulavukad Janakeeya Samithi against toll collection forced it to scrap the move.

The Samithi had said toll collection should be started only after a service road was constructed for the residents. Following this, former District Collector M G Rajamanickam convened a meeting of all stakeholders and directed the NHAI to initiate toll collection after the construction of the service road.

Jolt to ‘toll-free’ tag

The NHAI’s move has come as a jolt to the district’s dreams of bagging the ‘toll-free’ tag. At present, toll in the district is collected only at Pullepady. The move has already drawn flak from several quarters, including political parties. “The government’s move to impose the hefty burden on people is undemocratic. It speaks against toll system, but gives NHAI permission to collect such a hefty amount. This exposes its double standard,” said C R Neelakandan, AAP state convenor of AAP.