Agra: Intending their agitation of agriculture laws, farmers from Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ambawata) virtually took over Maant Toll Plaza on Tuesday and forced staff to allow vehicles to pay taxes for two hours.
Over the past year, Inpunjab and Haryana farmers have picked the toll plaza on the state and national highway, and does not allow concession holders to collect toll taxes from vehicles.
Speaking with Toi, BKU (Ambawata) of the President of the District Raj Kumar Tomar, said that this was only a “trailer” for two hours.
If the government does not attract new agricultural laws, they will make plazas free from the unlimited toll road from September 29.
“People will have free permits at Yamuna Expressway, as they have on the toll road in Punjab and Haryana, if the government does it does not take our demands seriously,” he said.
When contacted, the manager of the Tol Plaza Maant R B Singh said that they tried to resolve this problem.
“We have told a higher authority in this matter and will follow their instructions,” he said, adding that this is “legal issues and order” and they “cannot do much”.
According to reports, around 50 toll places in Punjab and Haryana have been given non-functional after the protest of farmers, produces an estimate of the daily loss of Rs 5 Crore.
During the past 8 months, Plaza Toll in Delhi-Chandigarh National Highway 44 has been converted into a protest site by farmers.
In March this year, the Minister of Road and Minister of Nitin Gadkari in a written reply to Rajya Sabha that the Indian national highway authority experienced a toll revenue of Rs 814.4 Crore until March 16 due to the protest of farmers in three countries.
“Loss of income because the protest of farmers is mainly occurring in the state of Punjab and Haryana as losses of RS 487 and RS 326 Crore recorded in their respective states.
However, Rs 1.4 Crore loss was recorded in several plazas in Rajasthan,” Minister said.