Mega protest at Nehru Nagar toll plaza
| Date :20-Aug-2019 |
Staff Reporter:
Bhilai
Finally, the controversy surrounding the Toll Plaza at Nehru Nagar Bypass erupted on Monday evening, when several hundred people irate over the issue surrounded the disputed plaza, which threw the traffic movement on Durg-Bhilai-Raipur into chaos for several hours. According to information received here, thousands of public, Led by District Planning Committee Member and Corporator of Ward-21 Arun Singh, from sibling cities of Durg and Bhilai reached the toll plaza structure at around 6 pm on Monday evening. Apart from Arun Singh, another prominent Durg Municipal Corporation Corporator Dev Narayan Chandrakar along with local public representatives Dilip Sahu and Shankar Damhe lead the crowd. The furious mob of local public created high-voltage drama during which they also forcibly opened the toll plaza for nearly two hours during which several vehicles were allowed to pass without paying the toll fee, even as the toll plaza Manager Inder Pratap Singh made futile attempt to pacify the angry mob, by assuring that he would broach the matter with his higher-ups.
If eye-witnesses accounts are taken into consideration, the furious protestors were demanding that all vehicles bearing registration CG-07 should not be levied any toll, apart from immediate suspension of Rs 15 toll charges on every two-wheelers passing through here. Some of the protestors also quoted the example of Rajnandgaon Toll Plaza where similar arrangement have been made for the vehicles bearing CG-08 registration as well as free ride access for the two-wheelers, the eye-witnessed maintained.
In the meantime, upon the receipt of angry crowd to have surrounded the Toll Plaza structure and their employees facing threat, senior officials from Durg District Administration including Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Durg Tehsildar, Mohan Nagar Police Station House Officer (SHO) Rajesh Bagde along with heavy police force rushed to the scene to avert any probability of untoward incident. While the senior officials from District Administration and Police managed to control the fury of protestors way far exceeding in numbers, the angry crowd also warned that if their demands were not met shortly, they will be forced to launch an aggressive movement. It is pertinent here to recall that Durg Member of Parliament Vijay Baghel had prominently taken up the disputed matter on the floor of Lok Sabha, whereas Durg Mayor Chandrika Chandrakar had also written a letter to State Government demanding that it should intervene into the matter by ensuring that all vehicles bearing registration CG-07 should not be levied any toll apart from free ride access to all two wheelers passing through the toll barrier.
