Union Government has closed as many as 62 toll plazas on national highways and expressways after recovery of capital cost and considering public interest. The toll plazas, which were to be closed, were located in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh. The Govt has also launched a webportal to make available to road users information concerning toll plazas on national highways and expressways operating under the Road Transport and Highways Ministry and National Highway Authority of India. The information includes the applicable fee rates for various categories of vehicles at any toll plaza, facilities available at toll plazas and emergency contact numbers. When all these activities were going on, one toll plaza on the National Highway No1 in Ban area of Jammu and Kashmir has been caught in a controversy with residents demanding the removal of the same and one near Kathua has been rendered unserviceable. But this toll plaza poses threat to road-users with no proper marking of speed breakers and has got a close-circuit camera dangling from the pole. National Conference has been spearheading the protest for removal of toll. There were no objections when the same was being installed during the party’s rule. The Road Transport Ministry move to seek Cabinet approval for full exemption at toll plazas country wide in the wake of immense opposition at local level would assuage the feelings of the people which have been building up for quite sometime. As part of the proposal passenger buses would be exempted as they carry common man. The motive behind such a proposal is to eliminate conflict and law and order situation at the local level. Jammu too has seen a series of protests over a toll plaza coming just outside its periphery at Ban on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway near Nagrota. The protests were spearheaded by National Conference MLA from Nagrota Constituency Devender Singh Rana. The locals have a valid point in their protest saying the charging of toll was unjustified as the upgradtion of road has not been completed and the work is still continuing. The Union Road Transport Ministry has closed 62 toll posts recently countrywide but keeping the Ban toll post open remains a mystery for the people.
