Thousands of vehicles breezed through the Fatehabad toll plaza on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway on Sunday without paying a single rupee as toll workers went on strike to protest the denial of their Diwali bonus.
Footage showed vehicles moving through the toll booths freely, with the protest believed to have caused losses running into several lakh rupees for the Union Government.
The expressway, a key route in Uttar Pradesh, provides a direct link between Agra and Lucknow and also connects to Delhi and the NCR through the Yamuna Expressway.
Employees say that salaries are often delayed and claim the company has said to replace them without providing any bonus, according to reports.
On Saturday night, 21 employees from the Shri Sai and Datar companies opened the toll plaza’s boom in protest. The sit-in lasted for 10 hours, and the toll plaza remained non-operational until officials assured them of a bonus.
According to reports, employees say the company had promised bonuses last week, but the amount has not yet been credited.
Meanwhile, some reports suggest that the protest was over a Diwali bonus of Rs 1,100, considerably less than last year’s Rs 5,000.
The company has not issued any statement regarding the incident.