Police calls meeting between bus operators, toll plaza men

Ludhiana: A day after TOI highlighted the issue of bus operators forcibly passing through the Ladhowal toll plaza without paying toll and causing losses worth lakhs to the operator, the police have swung into action and a meeting between toll plaza officials, bus operators and cops has been fixed for February 17. The toll plaza officials on Wednesday were called by the deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Ashwani Kapoor.
Confirming the development, DCP Kapoor said, “On Wednesday, we met toll plaza officials and they apprised us of the entire matter. According to them, some private bus operators were forcibly passing their buses from this plaza without paying any toll. They have also alleged that the buses do not have FAStags on them and neither are they ready to get their monthly passes made. So, in order to resolve this issue and also ensure that this practice ends immediately, we have decided to conduct a meeting of both sides next week, where bus operators too will be present and in the presence of all parties the issue will be resolved amicably.”
According to Chanchal Raj Singh, manager of Ladhowal toll plaza, said, “A meeting was called by Ludhiana police on the issue of forcible passing of the buses from the toll plaza. We apprised the DCP about the entire matter, who gave us a patient hearing and assured us that an investigation in this regard would be initiated and action would be taken accordingly. In fact, on Wednesday also the same trend of buses passing forcibly through the toll plaza continued and since morning some private persons known to the bus operators too arrived there and facilitated the movement of the buses without paying toll by forcibly opening the boom barriers.”