Bhubaneswar, June 3: Dhauli visitors will have to pay toll fee for one time while entering the tourist spot, famous for the Asokan rock edict and the international peace pagoda.

Earlier, fees used to be collected at two tollgates from near the site housing the peace pagoda built in 1972 in collaboration with Japan.

The Odisha Bridge Construction Corporation of the public works department has removed its tollgate from near the area. On Monday, the department removed the gate. Now, only one entry point managed by the Dhauli Development Council will continue to collect fees.

The Khurda district administration and the tourism department had opposed the practice of toll collection at two gates. But, the works department, through the corporation, kept on collecting the fees.

In the past, The Telegraph had published reports on the locations of the two tollgates on the road, which connects the NH-203 with the Dhauli site. Reports were published in December 2011, April 2013 and October 2014, citing inconvenience caused to tourists and visitors.

The council had established a tollgate in 2003. However, after construction of the new road from the highway to Dhauli with an investment of Rs 1 crore, the department asked the corporation authorities to collect toll since 2005.

In 2006, the then development commissioner, R.N. Bohidar, during his visit to Dhauli, suggested for a unified toll collection, and in 2007, the district administration had requested the corporation to stop the practice, but the works department took no step.

Sources alleged that with an annual average toll collection of around Rs 12 lakh from the corporation gate, the entire cost of the road was already recovered much before.

Tourism minister Ashok Chandra Panda said: "The unified toll collection near Dhauli was officially decided in 2013. It will definitely work as an image booster as thousands of tourists mainly from the neighbouring states throng the site every day."

City tourist officer Sashank Rath said: "The news has come as a relief as tourists will no longer have to pay double toll fees while coming to visit the site. The tollgate, managed by the council, will continue to collect the fees as before, and the money will be used for the overall development of Dhauli."

Now, tourists have to pay Rs 20 per bus, Rs 10 for light motor vehicles (cars, jeeps and so on) and Rs 2 for autorickshaw. In addition, vehicle operators have to pay Re 1 per person.

Sanjay Tripathy, a visitor from Mayurbhanj, said: "It is nice to see one tollgate now. In the past, whenever I used to visit Dhauli, the two tollgates were always causing eyesore. For the visitors coming from states such as Bengal, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, this will be a nice experience."

Tour operator Srikant Mishra said: "For the past four years, all tour operators had been venting their displeasure over the placement of two tollgates on the connecting road between the NH-203 and Dhauli. Now, we are happy."