Cabbies fume over price to enter Bangalore

After Monday’s ugly protests, the cab associations in Bangalore are all geared up to meet chief minister BS Yeddyurappa on Wednesday. “We want state government’s intervention into the tax collection to enter Bangalore via roads,” said All Indian Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) president GR Shanumgappa.

The meeting with the chief minister is supposed to be held on Wednesday, 9 am, at Vidhana Soudha. Earlier, the association representatives tried to meet both the chief minister and transport minister, but they could only meet the latter.

Transport minister R Ashoka met the associations and also visited the site on Monday. He said that the toll booth constructed ahead of the Bangalore International Airport (BIA) by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is illegal. Ashoka has also written to the NHAI office in Delhi seeking a clarification as to why the booth was constructed without the state government’s permission.

“We want the government to bring in a rule whereby all major roads leading to Bangalore would be toll-free within 30 km of the city limits. This is daylight burglary,” said Shanmugappa.
He elaborated his point by drawing examples from other states.

He said there is no city in the country where all major roads have toll collection. Another road that needs to be ‘de-tolled’ is the NICE Road, he said. Every day almost Rs40 lakh is collected as toll from the NICE Road which is nothing but a huge burden on the drivers and farmers who transport their produce to the city, he said.