Chaos prevails at Ban toll plaza

Amit Khajuria

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Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 22

The toll plaza on the Jammu-Udhampur national highway at Ban has failed to manage the collection process, which was started on late Thursday evening.

The toll plaza at Ban is not only putting pressure on the pockets of the travellers, but also wasting their time, as one has to wait in 2 km-long queue of vehicles to pay the toll at the plaza. The automatic barriers at the toll plaza have not been started as yet, which gives the chance to people to flee away without paying the toll.

“There is a total mess at the toll plaza here. People have to wait for half an hour to pay the toll and some of them flee without paying it, as there is no barricade,” said Sandeep Sharma, a regular traveller on the road.

“Most of the time the operator does not give a receipt of the payment. There is no check for this at the toll plaza,” he added.

People also complained that corruption started from the first day of the functioning of the toll plaza.

“The operators at the counters ask bus drivers to pay Rs 100 and cross the toll plaza without receipt. Actually the bus has to pay Rs 125 at the toll,” a local resident said.

“It should not have started yet as the road is not complete. How can they collect toll without completing the road?” he added.

Meanwhile, senior National Conference (NC) legislator Devender Singh Rana also demanded that the government should defer collection of toll from vehicles at Ban toll plaza till the completion of four-laning of the Jammu-Srinagar highway.

“The road is not complete, but the authorities have started collecting toll from the vehicles, which is not justified. The government should seriously look into the matter and postpone the collection of toll till the completion of the four-laning of the Jammu-Srinagar highway,” Rana said during the zero hour in the Legislative Assembly here.

The NC said it was an arbitrary decision on the part of the government to levy toll on Vaishno Devi pilgrims, tourists and local daily commuters, despite the fact that the widening of road had not been completed.