Sambalpur: Demonstrators on Saturday forcefully opened toll plazas at three places on the Biju Expressway between the city and Rourkela and allowed vehicles to cross them without paying toll tax.

Earlier from 8am to 12noon, they had blocked the four-lane road in front of the plazas at Nuakhairgaon in Sambalpur, Masnikani in Sundargarh and Lalang near Kansbahal, Rourkela, disrupting traffic on the expressway.

Bar associations of three districts - Sambalpur, Jharsuguda and Sundargarh - and the Sambalpur Highway Users' Forum, Sundargarh Citizens' Committee and some other social organisations staged the demonstration in protest against the collection of toll tax.

"This was a token protest and the modes of further agitations will be decided shortly," forum convener Bhagabat Prasad Nanda said.

The forum and members of Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Sundargarh, Rourkela, Rajgangpur and Bonai bar associations submitted a memorandum to chief minister Naveen Patnaik on May 16 for waiving the toll tax in people's interest, and the administration was given time to consider the demand till May 25. As there was no response from the government, they were forced to go for agitation, Nanda said.

People had paid toll tax on this route for 18 years till 2014 and again the government is forcing us to pay tax in three places on the 163km road. "If somebody wants to go to Rourkela from Sundargarh, he has to pay tax in two toll plazas for covering 105km," said advocate Nimai Naik.