Toll collection on Bellary Road near the trumpet junction to Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) lasted only a few hours on its first day before home and transport minister R Ashoka ordered it to be stopped temporarily.
Toll collection on Bellary Road near the trumpet junction to Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) lasted only a few hours on its first day before home and transport minister R Ashoka ordered it to be stopped temporarily until another round of talks were held between the state government and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
But it took one fatal accident claiming the life of a 22-year-old, at least 16 passengers missing their flights, and Kannada activists and cab drivers protesting and damaging the toll booths for the state government to order halt to toll collection there.
The drama began at around 6.30 am on Monday when 22-year old Narayanaswamy, a toll collector, died when a private bus crushed him close to the booth installed near Chikkajala.
Following this, the people who gathered at the spot staged a protest against the state government for allowing toll collection on Bellary Road on the way to BIA.
Members of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike then arrived on the spot and damaged the eight toll booths before being taken into custody by the police. Later members of the taxi drivers’ associations, too, staged protests at the toll booths while demanding that NHAI stop toll collection till the elevated road project along Bellary Road is completed.
Minister Ashoka, who had met representatives of the cab associations on Monday morning, visited the toll booth later in the day. He then asked the toll collection agency to stop the collection till another round of talks with NHAI and state government was held.
“The NHAI have not taken permission from the state transport authorities prior to the construction of toll booths near BIA. Also, there are irregularities in the entire process,” he said. But NHAI officials stuck to their stand. “It is a Government of India order for us to start collecting toll, and so we did. But I cannot make any comments on what the state transport minister has said,” said RK Gupta, project director of Bangalore, NHAI.
The chaos, vehicle queues and traffic congestion that prevailed led to at least 16 passengers missing their morning flights by well over 40 minutes, according to information gathered by DNA from the cab drivers. However, this could not be verified by any of the airlines.
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