Samithi urges people to defeat BJP to teach lesson for exponential hike in highway toll charges

Slamming the BJP-led Central government’s move to hike highway toll charges by 25% with effect from Saturday, the Surathkal Toll Gate Virodhi Horata Samithi on Friday, urged people to teach a befitting lesson to the party in the ensuing Assembly Elections in Karnataka

Slamming the BJP-led Central government’s move to hike highway toll charges by 25% with effect from Saturday, the Surathkal Toll Gate Virodhi Horata Samithi on Friday, urged people to teach a befitting lesson to the party in the ensuing Assembly Elections in Karnataka.

Samithi Convener Muneer Katipalla in a statement decried that toll enhancement has added to the misery of people who were already affected by steep price hike and increased cost of living. The hike was nothing but shameless extortion resorted to by companies that executed highway improvement works, he charged.

Mr. Katipalla said toll charges were increased across Karnataka by about 25%. Charges were exponentially increased in four toll plazas located in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts. A situation has now come where people were afraid of driving on National Highways with the steep hike.

He said the common man should also exhibit political maturity besides resorting to protests and struggles to keep the ruling party and the government under leash. There was an imminent need to express strong resentment against the steep hike in toll charges at a time when people were overburdened with economic crisis.

Therefore, they should vote BJP out of power in the ensuing Assembly elections so as to be a lesson to political parties not to act for the benefit of private corporates, Mr. Katipalla said.

Dakshina Kannada has two toll plazas, one at Brahmarakootlu on Mangaluru-Bengaluru National Highway 75 and one at Talapady on Kochi-Panvel National Highway 66 while Udupi has two, both on NH 66 at Hejmady and Sasthana.