Bhubaneswar, Oct. 18: In spite of the state government's request to the Centre to shift the tollgate on the Puri-Bhubaneswar national highway at Pipili, toll collection here started from midnight.
Around 10 platoons of police with several senior officials were deployed at the tollgate to ensure smooth toll collection.
The state government had requested the Centre to move the tollgate 5km towards Puri following protests by local residents.
Earlier this morning, members of the Pipili Toll Gate Action Committee, which has been opposing toll collection, staged a road blockade at Uttara Square on the city outskirts. Police arrested more than a dozen protesters, including Nishikanta Mishra, a high court advocate, who was later released on bail.
The committee members convened an emergency meeting and threatened to intensify their agitation. "Despite agitation by villagers of nearby areas, the contractor started toll collection. This is not acceptable and we will intensify our agitation," said Mishra.
On the other hand, police said they had been keeping a strong vigil on the agitators. "So far, toll collection has been peaceful and adequate police personnel have been deployed at the spot to prevent any untoward incident," said a senior officer of Puri police.
The four-lane road was built in a build-operate-transfer mode for Rs 810 crore. The tender granted the contractor who built the project the right to collect toll at the gate for 29 years. Toll collection at the gate had been put on hold for the past one-and-a-half months after the residents threatened to launch an agitation over the issue.
Though the road was opened to the public before rath yatra, the collection at the tollgate was postponed following a request by the Puri district administration to prevent traffic jams during the festive period.
Earlier, the state's works secretary Nalinikanta Pradhan had written to road transport and highways ministry secretary Vijay Chhibber to shift the tollgate as it is within 60km of another one operating near Manguli on the same highway. The letter also stated that people of Kakatpur were paying an additional tax at a tollgate before Konark, which is only 30km from the Pipili tollgate.
