Panipat residents feel toll pinch

Panipat, February 2

Travelling from Panipat to Haridwar in car will burn a hole in your pocket as the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on Wednesday started a new toll near Tamshabad village on the Panipat-Haridwar national highway 709AD.

Residents demand toll-free passage

Panipat: With the start of the new toll plaza, residents of surrounding villages opposed the plaza in their area and demanded free passage through the toll booth. They submitted a memorandum to Karnal MP Sanjay Bhatia and Deputy Commissioner Sushil Kumar Sarwan for their demands.

With this, the ‘Textile City’ is now surrounded by toll plazas from three sides and all three are lying within a 30-km radius on three national highways passing from here.

Notably, Union Minister for Roads Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari had said that there should be no toll plaza within 60 km on the national highways. But, Panipat city is now covered from three sides with toll plazas and the residents have to shell out money to cover a distance of 20 km within the district.

If a resident of Panipat city wanted to go to Karnal, which is at a distance of only 32 km from Panipat, he had to pay toll at two places – one at elevated toll plaza and other at Gharaunda in Karnal district on NH-44.

With the start of the new toll plaza near Tamshabad village on NH-709AD, residents have to pay to go to Yamuna border, which is merely at a distance of 18 km from the city.

The new toll plaza was started on a trial basis on Tuesday and formally started on Wednesday. The NHAI has given a tender to a Meerut-based company.

Karnal MP Sanjay Bhatia said the new highway would provide facilities to the people and would ease the traffic problems of the people.