Sambalpur: The talks on toll tax suspension on the newly inaugurated Biju Expressway with the district administration and the national highway users' forum failed on Saturday.
The members of the forum have decided to call a strike against the toll collection in Sambalpur on April 2.
The forum described the toll collection as "illegal and arbitrary" and appealed the people to observe a 12-hour strike. "However, essential services such as water supply, milk supply, educational institutions and medical services will be exempted from the purview of the strike," said forum member Bhagabat Nanda.
Sambalpur collector Samarth Verma and police superintendent Sanjeev Arora requested the people to suspend the agitation and co-operate with the administration to form a committee to discuss the matter at the higher level. But, the agitators insisted on suspension of the toll collection and said they would continue their agitation in a peaceful manner. Arora appealed to the agitators to observe the strike peacefully without taking the law into own hand.
The expressway has been into controversy since the day of its inauguration on March 13 in all the three districts - Sambalpur, Jharsuguda and Sundargarh of west Odisha. Commuters launched a road blockade on March 18, demanding withdrawal of tax on local vehicles bearing registration number of Sambalpur district. The agitation had continued for more than five hours. The police had arrested more than 100 agitators as they did not withdraw the protest even after the intervention of additional district magistrate Trilochan Majhi and additional superintendent of police Amarendra Rana.
"Before the Biju Expressway, we have paid toll tax for more than 18 years till 2014 and now again we have to pay for years," said one of the agitators.
On March 17, members of the Sundargarh Citizens' Committee observed a 12-hour strike. Protesters obstructed the expressway by burning tyres. They alleged that they had to pay tax at two toll gates on the 105km road to go to Rourkela. The 163km four-lane road from Rourkela to Sambalpur has been completed at a cost of Rs 1,292.56 crore. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the road on March 13 at an event in Jharsuguda.
