Toll collection suspended at Hejamadi after locals protest, DC calls meeting on Feb 13
Udupi: The toll collection at Hejamadi toll plaza was suspended on Friday, February 10 after the local residents protested against it. Navayuga Infrastructure Company had started to collect toll Chagres from vehicles from midnight on Thursday.
A large number of protesters gathered at the Hejamadi Toll plaza and opposed the collection of toll without full filling their demands.
The protest was organised under the leadership of Hejamadi Nagarika Samithi. Bus owners and drivers association, Rickshaw owners and drivers association, Tempo drivers association and the locals of the area.
The protesters demanded that the toll be collected on NH-66 only after the completion of the proposed works by Navyuga constructions. The toll should not be collected until the works proposed – which includes the service roads and construction of stormwater drains and footpaths in the area are completed.
Udupi Tahsildar Mahesh Chandra visited the spot and interacted with the protesters. Speaking on the occasion Mahesh Chandra said that the company has claimed that 80 percent of the work is completed from Surathkal to Kundapur. Only on that basis, the district administration allowed them to collect the toll in Hejamadi and Sastan but the local residents objected to it. The deputy commissioner has called an urgent meeting of the National Highway authorities and Navayuga Infrastructure Company officials on February 13 at the DC office. The public can also participate in the meeting, he added.
Tahsildar Mahesh Chandra instructed Toll officials not to collect toll for KA 20 registration vehicles till February 13.
Belapu Deviprasad Shetty, Diwakar Shetty, Deepak Yarmal, Prakash Shetty Padubidri, Gulam Mohammed, Vishwas Amin, Shashikant Padubidri, and others were present.
Meanwhile, the Navayuga Infrastructure Company is collecting toll at the Gundmi–Sasthan Tollgate from midnight on Thursday. The locals have called for a protest on Saturday, February 11.