Raisuan: In protest against ‘illegal’ toll collection on National Highway-20 and false cases against some persons, hundreds of locals and activists of Anchalika Surakhya Parishad, a local outfit, blocked the highway at Banajodi in Keonjhar district Friday.
The agitators alleged the work of the highway construction has been botched up while two toll plazas have come up in violation of distance guidelines.
They pointed out that while the road has not been completed as yet, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has been ‘illegally’ collecting toll from vehicles. They demanded removal of the toll gates from the highway.
Anchalika Surakhya Parishad members and locals had staged agitations in the past over the issue, while the NHAI and the district administration are accused of sitting pretty.
In the morning, hundreds of locals trooped to NH-20 and blocked it while administration deployed police forces to maintain law and order.
A few days ago, the locals had staged road blockades for hours at Banajodi toll plaza and Ghantaghar toll plaza, alleging that the distance between two plazas violates the guidelines. The distance between two toll plazas is supposed to be 60 km or more, but in this case, the plazas have been set up within a distance of 43 km.
Besides, no toll plaza is allowed within a distance of 10 km from the limits of a civic body. However, the Banajodi toll plaza has come up at a place five km away from Keonjhar municipality.
Another problem is that three toll plazas have come on this route within a distance of 163 km from Panikoili to Rajamunda, locals said. PNN
