Chennai: User Collection Collection will be suspended at four of the five toll plazas on Jalan Mahabalipuram (OMR) Lama in Chennai starting Monday.
Toll booths in Perungudi, ThoraiPakkam, Kalaignar Salai and Medavakkam will stop collecting tolls to facilitate construction work by Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), First Minister Tamil Nadu EV Velu told the State Assembly session on Friday.
However, motorists will continue to pay toll in the booth in Navalur near Siruseri.
So, this announcement has attracted a mixed response from OMR residents.
The Velu also informed the State Assembly that the government would take steps to close the five toll plazas on the national highway on the outskirts of Chennai.
Five Toll Plazas is Nemili (Sriperumbudur) and Chennasamudram NH 48, Vanagaram (Chennai Bypass), Parraapattu (Chennai bypass) on NH 45.
“We wrote a letter to the Minister of Station Road Transportation and Jalan Raya Nitin Gadkari closed the toll plaza In Nemili, Chennasamudram, Vanagaram, Parare and Surattu.
I will meet with the Union Minister after the assembly session (sustainable) ends and insists on him to close the Toll Plaza, “said Minister, replying to the Durai Chandrasekan DMK (Thiruvaiyaru Constitution) during the debate for the demands for the Grant highway and port.
There are a total of 48 toll places in the state.
From them, 14 operated by the Indian National Highway Authority, the Minister added.
Thiruvaiyaru Mla said that crossing the toll plaza has turned into an unpleasant experience and sometimes, representatives were chosen to face “shame” because their vehicles were not allowed to pass the plaza and they were made to wait a few minutes.
“I appealed to the government to make Tamil Nadu Country free and help people to travel freely like how the government allows women to travel on the bus managed by the country,” Mla said.
Recognizing that there was a problem when passing through the Toll Plaza, the minister said he himself had experienced it.