Lakhanpur toll plaza to open from tomorrow
Tribune News Service
Jammu, July 19
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is starting a new toll plaza at Lakhanpur, the gateway to Jammu and Kashmir, in Kathua district from July 21, the day this year’s curtailed Amarnath Yatra is proposed to begin.
Organisations stage protest
- Several organisations of Kathua district today staged a demonstration against the decision of the National Highways Authority of India to start toll collection at Lakhanpur from July 21.
- Scores of protesters, led by the president, Youth Federation, Lakhanpur, Sunny Sharma, raised anti-government slogans and demanded immediate rollback of the decision.
The NHAI has signed a letter of agreement (LoA) for the operationalisation of the plaza with the Haryana-based Ranchordas Company. With this, all Kashmir-bound tourists and Vaishno Devi pilgrims entering or leaving J&K will have to shell out extra money at three toll posts —Thandi Khui toll plaza, Ban toll plaza and Lakhanpur toll plaza. “This toll plaza was supposed to be made operational in 2012 when the four-laning of the Jammu-Pathankot highway was completed. The notification for it was announced in 2016 and since then, we had repeatedly been approaching the local government for giving its nod to start the toll plaza,” Hemraj, general manager, regional office, NHAI, Jammu, told The Tribune.
The general manager said they would start collecting toll from all incoming and outgoing vehicles from July 21.
As per the toll fee fixed by the NHAI at the Lakhanpur toll plaza, the light motor vehicles will be charged Rs 85 for single journey and Rs 130 for return journey within 24 hours. Similarly, a mini-bus will be charged Rs 140 for single and Rs 205 for double entry, while bus/truck (two axle) will be charged Rs 290 for single and Rs 435 for double entry.
From January 1, the UT administration had abolished all inter-state minor toll posts, including the Lakhanpur toll post to fully implement the idea of “one nation, one tax” post the GST regime after scrapping J&K’s special status and its division into two UTs.
Meanwhile, the ruling BJP at the Centre has been facing criticism for turning Jammu into a “city of toll plazas” as three toll posts, including one at the Chenani-Nashri tunnel in Udhampur district.
