Bhubaneswar, May 27: Five out of the eight tollgates managed by the National Highways Authority of India in Odisha are collecting money in violation of norms, the state's transport minister Ramesh Majhi admitted today.

Private bus owners' associations today raised the issue during a meeting with the minister. The association had earlier threatened to stop bus service through the tollgates after the state government had notified to collect toll from passengers and bus owners.

"According to the guidelines related to toll tax collection by the National Highways Authority of India, no tollgates should be present within the 10km of a civic body, including the municipality and the notified area council (NAC). However, the tollgate at Manguli in Cuttack district is located 5km from the Choudwar Municipality. Similarly, the tollgate at Pipili in Puri district is located 5km from the Pipili NAC. Same is the case with the Bahargoda tollgate, located 2km from Bargarh Municipality," said the State Private Bus Operators' Association general secretary Debendra Sahu.

The association also protested against collection of toll tax at two other places - Panikoili and Srirampur - in Jajpur district. "The national highways authority norm states that a minimum distance of 60km should be maintained between two tollgates. The distance between Manguli and Panikoili is 51km. The tollgate at Srirampur is illegal as the authority and the state government had earlier decided to shift it to another place in Jagatsinghpur," Sahu said.

The bus owners had earlier protested as the Srirampur toll plaza was located 35km from Manguli.

He also said that despite being illegal tollgates, these had been operating since 2009 and collecting crores of rupees every year. The three other tollgates operating in the state are located at Gudiapada in Khurda district, Gurapalli in Ganjam district and Seragarh in Balasore district.

Majhi, on the other hand, admitted the violations and said they would urge the NHAI to set up the tollgates following the norm. "Though collection of toll is not illegal, but the locations should be changed. We have written to the authority, but it is yet to respond," said Majhi.

According to the state transport department's recent notification issued on May 18, a passenger needed to bear two-thirds the toll fee and the bus owner the remaining one-third. The notification also says toll fee would be collected at eight tollgates on the national highways in the state, in which passengers has to pay their share on the range between Rs 3.80 and Rs 5.90. The private bus owners, however, protested against the new toll formula and threatened not to ply their vehicles through the gates once the notification is implemented.