Surathkal toll gate to be closed by November end: Dakshina Kannada minister

UDUPI: Dakshina Kannada district minister V Sunil Kumar said that the toll gate at Surathkal on NH-66 will be closed by the end of November.
When the Action Committee Against Surathkal Toll Gate held a protest on October 18, Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel had told media persons that the toll gate will be closed within 20 days. He also had requested the action committee members to wait for 20 days. However, district minister Sunil Kumar made a statement on Saturday, hinting that the toll gate may be closed, only by the end of November.
The minister said that the issue of the Surathkal toll gate was discussed in detail in the past. “I had spoken to the officials on the day when the action committee members held a protest. According to the officials, the process of closing the toll gate is in its final stage. As far as I know, the toll gate may be closed by the end of November,” the minister said.
Meanwhile, Muneer Katipalla, convener of Action Committee Against Surathkal Toll Gate, said, “The minister’s statement is nothing but another lie in the sequence of BJP government’s fraudulence. We are fed up with listening to such empty promises in the past six years. Where was minister Sunil Kumar when MP Nalin Kumar Kateel sought 20 days’ time to close the toll gate? No one from the coastal districts will trust the MLAs and MPs of the BJP. People should join hands with the action committee to hold an indefinite strike against the toll gate from October 28,” he said.