Surathkal toll booth merger comes as big relief for NITK

MANGALURU: The decision to remove the toll plaza, which is a stone’s throw away from NITK, Surathkal campus, and merge with Hejamadi, has come as a major relief to NITKians.
In fact, it was NITK students and administration who were the first to protest against it when the tollbooth was planned next to the institution’s entrance.
Starting in 2011, the heads of the institutions submitted several memoranda to the district administration (copies of which are available with TOI). They also expressed concern over the safety of girl students as the place was crowded with truck drivers near the toll.
One of the senior professors of the institution recalled that a decade ago, students and professors had objected to the coming up of the tollbooth next to campus for many reasons.
Firstly, the institution was expanding to the western side of campus with various departments. The students were finding it difficult to cross roads as there was a serpentine line of vehicles, with the toll booth being a few metres from the main entrance. Secondly, apart from its budding engineers, the campus also has nearly 1,500 children from LKG to high school who study in Kannada and English medium schools situated in the same campus. Thirdly, a major concern was the safety of female students.
“In one of the letters written to deputy commissioners, we also mentioned various incidents near toll plazas where women were targeted and sexually assaulted. We are finally happy that there is an end to our inconveniences and woes,” said a senior professor.
Another professor added that there were verbal exchanges between motorists and students, while they were crossing the roads. To avoid it, plans are afoot to build a sky track or foot-over-bridge across it, which will be operational as soon as possible. “The institution had written letters to the district administration requesting that the tollgate be relocated, but they were ignored. All we had was to suffer from air and sound pollution due to the serpentine vehicle queue on both sides. There were inconveniences when several untoward incidents took place at the toll booth,” they added.
An email query sent to Prasad Krishna, director (additional charge), NITK Surathkal, seeking his opinion on the removal of the toll plaza and merger with Hejamadi, was not answered.