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Protest at tolls plazas: HC seeks action taken report from Punjab
As per NHAI plea, toll collection was stopped at 13 toll plazas in different parts of the state, and in some cases from mid-December
The Punjab and Haryana high court on Thursday directed the Punjab government to file a status and action taken report on the plea from the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) alleging ₹1.33 crore daily loss owing to the prevention of toll fee collection by protesters at 13 toll plazas in the state.
The NHAI had filed the plea on Tuesday, which the bench of justice Vinod S Bhardwaj had referred to the chief justice, RS Jha for consideration of the matter for listing before a division bench. However, it was sent back by the chief justice and again listed for hearing before the same bench on Thursday.
During the hearing on Thursday, senior advocate, Chetan Mittal, who appeared for the NHAI pointed out that nothing had been done by the state authorities even as the plea was taken by the high court two days back.
There was no information regarding the proposed action regarding 13 toll plazas, where the collection was not being permitted by the protesters, and particularly one plaza where the protesters were collecting the toll themselves, he submitted.
The court posted the matter for hearing on February 16 and sought a response from the state authorities. The court orally observed that the state was bound to comply with the terms of the “state support agreement” with the Central government as per which it was obligatory on its part to provide security to all the 34 toll plazas established by the NHAI.
As per NHAI plea, toll collection was stopped at 13 toll plazas in different parts of the state, and in some cases from mid-December. At one such toll plaza at Kot Karor in Ferozepur, some protesters have, in fact, taken over the toll plaza and are illegally operating the same by collecting user fees for over two months.
The plea underlines that the protesters preventing toll fee collection had resulted in a significant revenue loss to the Central government exchequer. The NHAI had to incur a loss of around ₹1348.77 crore “in a similar situation earlier where the toll operations were closed by an agitating union for 440 days from October 1, 2020, to December 15, 2021, it said.
The deputy commissioners and other officers in the field have been approached time and again to get the toll plazas vacated, but no action has been taken.
The plea also cites a letter written to chief secretary VK Janjua on December 28 written by the secretary, ministry of road transport, Alka Upadhyaya, in which immediate intervention of the state government was sought. However, there has been no change on the ground, it alleged.
