Date:15/07/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/07/15/stories/2004071510970500.htm

Karnataka

32 arrested for clash over toll

By Our Staff Correspondent

TUMKUR, JULY 14. The police on Wednesday arrested 32 persons following a clash between the staff of the Joss Toll Road Company, which is running the toll gates, near here, on the Bangalore-Pune National Highway, and drivers of the vehicles.

It is said that the driver of a passenger van picked a quarrel with the company staff on the fee to be paid, which resulted in traffic on the road being disrupted. The company's security staff allegedly assaulted the driver and damaged his vehicle.

The driver reportedly returned with his supporters and attacked the company staff. The police arrested the driver and he was produced in court in the evening.

On May 29, more than 1,500 people came to the toll gates in 300 vehicles and staged a dharna against collection of toll. They pleaded that a 32-km stretch of the four-lane road was hurriedly opened by the then Union Minister of Highways, B.C. Khanduri, on February 9, in view of the Lok Sabha election, although the work was not completed. The company, they alleged, started levying full toll from day one.

The company, at the behest of local leaders and senior officials of the district, agreed to levy only Rs. 9 for "local" vehicles. There was trouble last week when the company staff at the toll gates insisted upon the payment of full toll, following which, a group of the company's executives visited the Tumkur bus stand met some of the regular commuters and assured them of continuing the system of levying a concessional toll on local vehicles. The commuters alleged that the company staff at the toll gates did not levy a uniform fee. The Kyatsandra police said that the 32 persons had been remanded in judicial custody for a day.