Irked by toll rush, Khaira removes boom barriers

Tribune News Service

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Ropar, November 4

A complaint has been filed against Aam Aadmi Party leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira after he along with his security guards forcibly removed boom barriers at the Solakhian toll plaza today.

Uma Shankar Ayyar, administrative officer of the toll plaza, in his complaint claimed that Khaira’s action led to heavy financial losses to the concessionaire.

Khaira’s car reached the toll plaza at 11 am and after finding long queues he argued with the staff there that they could not harass commuters by making them wait for hours.

He asked them to remove the boom barriers and let the vehicles pass without paying toll tax. Khaira claimed that forcing commuters to wait for more than three minutes at a toll plaza was violation of Supreme Court’s ruling. When the toll plaza authorities did not budge, he with the help of his security guards removed the boom barriers. Khaira also uploaded the entire incident on the Facebook.

Ayyar in his complaint said Khaira and his PSOs lifted boom barriers from lane number 5 to 10 and let hundreds of vehicles pass without paying user fee causing revenue loss to the concessionaire. He denied that there was a ruling from any court that commuters were not bound to pay user fee after waiting for more than three minutes.

Khaira said commuters who paid hefty road tax were made to wait at toll plazas, adding that he would protest whenever he comes across such situation.

The local SHO confirmed that he had received a complaint against Khaira and action would be taken in this regard only after preliminary investigation.

However, this is not for the first time that a toll plaza witnessed such protest by a politician. Two years ago on December 29, 2016, Lok Insaf Party supremo Simarjit Singh Bains staged a protest at the Ladhowali toll plaza near Ludhiana against charging user fee from commuters despite making them wait in long queues.