Ravinder Saini
Tribune News Service
Rewari, November 30
Having failed to get its demand for ‘toll-free Haryana’ met despite carrying out an agitation, the Toll Hatao Sangharsh Samiti, Haryana(THSSH), has decided to resume its campaign against hefty toll in the state to draw the attention of the new BJP government, samiti chief Virender Hooda told The Tribune.
A delegation of the samiti would soon call on Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar to submit a demands charter. “Since there is a new government in the state, we will first apprise the Chief Minister of extra financial burden being borne by road-users owing to a heavy toll,” he said.
Every private vehicle had to shell out more than Rs 2 per kilometer as toll for a round trip to Chandigarh from Rewari. There were seven toll barriers between both cities where road-users had to pay over Rs 700 for around 330 km, he added.
“How can people belonging to the middle class afford such a hefty toll when they deposit road tax at the time of buying vehicles?” asked Hooda.
He maintained that the government’s decision to remove commercial toll barriers from six places in the state was appreciable but it should provide relief to private vehicle owners too by slashing toll .
“As the BJP had promised to reduce toll on coming to power, it should do so,” said Hooda. The samiti had been demanding toll-free access for all those private vehicle owners who resided within a radius of 30 km from the toll barriers.