Two toll plazas close, Mann says operators increase fee arbitrarily

The first toll plaza is in Mandi Ahmedgarh near Lehra village in Malerkotla district used to charge Rs 90 for one-way travel and Rs 135 for two-way travel by four-wheelers. The second one is near Ladda village in CM Bhagwant Mann’s constituency Dhuri in Sangrur. It used charged Rs 60 for a one-way travel and Rs 90 for two-way travel for car/ van/ jeep.

The tolls were started on September 4, 2015, during the SAD-BJP government for a seven year duration which ended on Sunday midnight. Mann addressed the gathering on Sunday and said that toll plazas operators were demanding an extension of another 20 months to collect taxes or Rs 50 crore as compensation as they suffered losses during the pandemic and kisan agitation against farm laws

At the Ladda toll plaza, Mann said, “You wouldn’t have seen CMs addressing at toll plazas but this CM is yours only. This toll plaza (ladda) was set up by SAD-BJP government after Dhuri bypoll in 2015. Before the bypoll, the then CM Parkash Singh Badal had announced not to open this toll plaza but Dhuri got this after the bypoll result. Even now the plaza management came to me for extension but I refused as Covid was a national disaster and everyone suffered losses. And the farmers were protesting against the Centre for the three wrong farm laws and so so they should seek compensation from the Centre.

Earlier in 2018, then Congress MLA Dalvir Singh Goldy had got a side lane constructed on his personal expenses so that locals could avoid the toll road. However, Goldy was booked in seven different FIRs.

The CM added that for seven years people payed huge amount of money from their pockets to pass through these toll plazas. “As an MP, I had also raised the issue of exorbitant toll rates in Parliament but to no avail. I had asked in Parliament that when people pay 8% of the total cost of vehicle as road tax while purchasing the vehicle, then why these toll taxes? Now the people will be relieved,” he said, adding that due to these toll plazas, prices of common goods are escalating as transportation charges increase after paying tolls.

Meanwhile, SAD spokesperson Arshdeep Singh Kler said, “It is strange for the CM to declare closure of a particular toll plaza when its tenure was to end on September 4. I fail to understand the need to announce it. The CM should focus on running the state and not the stage. He should focus on fulfilling the promises his party made rather than indulging in such activities. If he closes all toll plazas by Sunday midnight, that matter will be appreciable.”

Dr Amandeep Aggarwal, a Sangrur-based doctor, said that the government needs to provide the status of toll plazas on Zirkpur-Bathinda road as well. “There are five tolls on that road and it started operating in 2012. Ten years have passed and it also needs to end,” he said.