About 350 of taxi owners and drivers sat on a dharna at the toll plaza at Devanahalli.
Day three of toll collection on BIA Road saw stiff resistance from taxi owners and drivers; about 350 of them sat on a dharna at the toll plaza at Devanahalli.
Radhakrishna Holla, general secretary of Bangalore Tourist and Taxi Owners’ Association, said most of the taxis going towards the airport make two-four trips to and from the airport every day. He said paying toll for each trip would be a grave financial burden for the operators and they wanted concessions for taxis.
Jose Francis, a travel agent, said it was not fair that the toll was collected for each trip. He said considering that taxis do multiple trips every day, the burden of the toll would fall on the passengers.
“Most toll booths in the city collect toll for a period of one day. Why is toll being collected per trip in this case?” he said.
However, a few taxi owners have a different opinion on the issue. “While, in principle, we are against the collection of toll, there is no point in protesting now,” said Laxman K Ameen, another travel agent. “The protests should have been done much earlier, when it could have yielded some result,” he said.
RK Gupta, project director, National Highways Authority of India, said, they were collecting toll based on the rules framed at the national level. He asked why special provisions should be made in the case of this toll plaza.
“We have already given them a monthly pass of Rs600, with which they can make up to 50 trips. That is all the concession we can provide,” he said.
Meanwhile, GR Shanmugappa, president of the All-India Motor Transport Congress, said a meeting would be held with the chief minister to discuss the issue of toll collection. He said if the meeting does not bring about a result that favours the taxi operators, then all the taxis going to the airport would be withdrawn immediately.
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