Keonjhar: Local people and transporters, united under the banner of Anchalika Surakhya Parishad, have been agitating for the last 50 days against toll collection at two places on NH-20, terming the collection illegal. The agitation intensified Friday when locals blocked the highway for hours at Banajodi toll plaza and Ghantaghar toll plaza, alleging the distance between the two toll gates violates NHAI guidelines.
They demanded either the toll gates be removed or toll collection stopped. Distance between two toll plazas is supposed to be 60 km or more, but in this case the distance is 43 km.
Besides, no toll plaza is allowed within a distance of 10 km from the limits of a civic body, as per NHAI norms. One of the toll gates has come up at a place, five km away from the Keonjhar municipality.
Three toll plazas have come on this route within a distance of 163 km from Panikoili to Rajamunda.
The administration, sensing law and order problem, has imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPc within a radius of 1 km from the toll plazas since Thursday.
Police forces were deployed at the places. Pooh-poohing the prohibitory orders, the Anchalika Bikash Manch members blocked NH-20 at both the places, leaving a large number of trucks, buses and other vehicles stranded for hours.
Manoranjan Rout, a leader of the agitation, said, “The distance between two toll plazas is less than what has been prescribed in existing guidelines. Besides, Banajodi plaza is just a few yards away from Keonjhar town. Though we had opposed this several times and staged agitation, none paid heed to it. Locals were upset over the inaction. The administration is also sitting pretty.”
Saroj Sahu, a member of the outfit, said if the district administration and NHAI fail to sort out the issue immediately, their agitation will go on like this. PNN