Mangaluru: Intensifying its fight against the Surathkal tollgate, the Nagarika Samiti, Mangaluru has made an appeal at the Supreme Court against the tollgate constructed by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).
Speaking to reporters, Mangaluru North MLA B A Moideen Bawa said that the Samiti had objected to construction of the toll plaza and even after the Chief Minister and the Minister for Public Works Department directing the NHAI to stop work on the tollgate, the NHAI went ahead with the work.
The Samiti went to the High Court questioning this, but the HC ordered status quo, upon which the Samiti has now moved the SC specifically stating that the NHAI has violated several rules while constructing the tollgate, viz no service road has been laid and drain systems have not been closed before throwing the toll plaza open for fee collection.
Referring to a Supreme Court verdict in connection with a toll gate case in Ranchi, Bava said the court stayed the toll collection as the construction of the toll gate was ‘unscientific’. The toll gate in Surathkal is also an example of ‘unscientific construction’.
The service road work on the stretch has not been completed before constructing the toll gate and the drain system is also closed, he said adding that the since the toll gate is right opposite NITK-Surathkal, the students have been facing inconvenience due to continuous lining up of heavy vehicles outside the campus. “The issue has been discussed at the NITK Board Committee meeting. A letter has been written to Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani in this regard,”he said.
Bava urged the NHAI to shift the toll gate one km away and outside the Mangaluru City Corporation limits.
