With the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) giving approval to hike toll rates on the Edappally-Mannuthi stretch of NH 47, the Paliyekkara toll plaza in Thrissur is all set to witness a host of agitations led by major political outfits from September 1, the day when the revised toll rates would come into effect.
Major political parties like CPM, CPI, and BJP have announced that they would lay siege to the toll plaza against the toll hike, as part of a protest programme from September 1.
The LDF District Committee announced that it would lay siege to the toll plaza at Paliyekkara on September 1. The youth wings of CPM, CPI and Congress have also threatened to go on strike against the fleecing of vehicles from September 1.
According to the CPM District Committee, the toll plaza has been systematically looting motorists in the guise of toll collection, even as the company has shirked its responsibility to provide basic amenities.
With the agitation against the toll plaza gathering steam, the journey through NH 47 from September will turn into an arduous task. The traffic along the NH will be thrown out of gear, when scores of activists gather at the toll plaza.
Commuting via the Thrissur-Palakkad NH is already a nightmare as motorists have to brave long traffic jams at various points due to the pathetic condition of the road stretch from Mannuthi to Palakkad.
The office-bearers of the Toll Virudha Samyuktha Samara Samithi, an umbrella organisation which has been holding an indefinite hunger strike at the Paliyekkara toll plaza from February 2012 against the government’s decision to collect toll on the Mannuthi-Edappally stretch of NH 47 said they would also intensify their agitation against toll collection.