Nagaon: Security has been beefed up at Raha toll gate on National Highway 37 in central Assam's Nagaon district on the eve of its reopening.
Locals, led by Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, have been opposing the toll gate in protest against the additional tax.
Hundreds of people, representing around 12 organisations, staged a demonstration at Raha town on Wednesday in protest against the government's decision to reopen the toll gate from Thursday. The protesters demanded that the administration resolve the local problems like better drainage system and toilet facilities before commissioning the gate.
"We requested the government for an AIIMS campus at Raha, they gave us a toll gate which does not serve any local interest. The local Lok Sabha member (Rajen Gohain) promised to safeguard the interest of Raha villagers but he left us in the lurch once his dream of becoming a minister was fulfilled," All Tiwa Students' Union leader Rantu Bordoloi alleged. Gohain is a minister of state for the railways.
A high-level team of Nagaon district administration, led by additional deputy commissioner Lachit Das, assured the protesters that the administration, headed by deputy commissioner Biswajit Pegu, would discuss the local issues with the organisations on Wednesday evening. Pegu told The Telegraph that he would do whatever possible to resolve local problems.
The protesters submitted a memorandum to Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal through Das, demanding resolution of the problems of Raha inhabitants before the toll gate is opened.
Hundreds of security personnel were deployed at the site on Wednesday, apparently apprehending a repeat of 2014, when protesters had demolished the infrastructure of the toll gate which had been commissioned that year.
Controversy has dogged the toll gate since. The KMSS, led by Akhil Gogoi, forced the government to stop toll collection at the gate immediately after it was commissioned in 2014. Three months ago, local organisations demolished temporary constructions near the gate when a private firm, to which the toll gate was handed over by the government, started preliminary work for its re-commissioning.
