Karnataka: Vacate Surathkal toll gate or face wrath, says action committee

MANGALURU: The Action Committee Against Surathkal Toll Gate warned that the toll plaza at Surathkal will be vacated with the help of like-minded organisations on October 18, if the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) fails to keep its promises.
While the Action Committee held a day-long dharna on Tuesday, demanding that the government close down the toll plaza on NH-66 at Surathkal, NHAI project director Linge Gowda visited the protest venue, and said that the toll gate will be closed down within a month. Gowda told the protesters that the paperwork related to the closure of the Surathkal toll gate is in progress, and it may take 20 days to one month to vacate the plaza. The official also agreed to expedite the work on filling the potholes on national highway stretches, and to provide streetlights.
Following this, the Action Committee resolved that a protest with the support of like-minded organisations be held on October 18, to vacate the toll gate, if the authorities fail to fulfil the promise.
Action Committee convener Muneer Katipalla said the NHAI officials have failed to announce a date on which the toll gate at Surathkal will be closed. “Hundreds of people representing various organisations will join hands to vacate the toll on October 18,” he warned.
Elected representatives from the region have time and again made false promises of closing down the toll gate, he said. “We will no longer trust such promises of the people’s representatives henceforth. On August 23, the NHAI officials had informed during the District Development Coordination and Monitoring Committee (Disha) meeting, that the toll gate will be vacated within a month. There are two toll plazas functioning at Surathkal and Brahmarakotlu, which is against the norms,” he said.
KPCC general secretary Mithun Rai, social activist M G Hegde, KPCC vice-president Ivan D’Souza and former ministers Abhayachandra Jain and Vinay Kumar Sorake extended their support to the protest.