Bhubaneswar, June 4: The existing arrangement for collecting toll fee from passenger buses at the eight toll plazas on national highways in the state will continue for the foreseeable future, transport minister Ramesh Majhi said today.

The statement came after chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi discussed the issue with National Highways Authority of India chairman Raghav Chandra at the secretariat today.

Majhi also said the department's May 18 notification regarding collection of toll from passengers alongside bus owners at these gates was being withheld till the issue was resolved.

The state government will send a fresh proposal to the highway authority for the relocation of five of these toll plazas, which allegedly do not meet the parameters laid down by them.

The notification had said that a passenger needed to bear 2/3rd of the charge while the bus owner would have to pay the rest. It also said that toll fees would be collected at all eight toll plazas on the national highways.

Odisha Private Bus Owners' Association has locked horns with the state government over the issue and threatened not to ply through these gates if the notification was not withdrawn with immediate effect.

They had also alleged that toll collection at five out of the eight gates was illegal and demanded their relocation. These gates are located in places such as Manguli, Srirampur, Pipili, Panikoili and Bahargoda.

The association alleged that these gates violated the highway authority norms, which say that a minimum distance of 60km should be maintained between two toll gates. It also says that the gates cannot not be located within a 10km radius of civic bodies, including municipalities and Notified Area Councils.

However, highway authority chairman Raghav Chandra denied the allegations of illegal toll collection.

"The toll plazas are not illegal and are there according to the rule book. If there are any issues, the state government needs to send a detailed proposal for our consideration," he said.

At present, the eight toll plazas operate on the national highways across the state at Manguli in Cuttack, Panikoili and Srirampur in Jajpur, Gudiapada in Khurda, Gurapalli in Ganjam, Seragarh in Balasore, Bahargoda in Bargarh and Pipili in Puri.

Each private bus pays Rs 1,000 at these gates on a monthly basis.