Toll collection illegal: Cong
DH NEWS SERVICE
BANGALORE: The Congress
has alleged that the collec-
tion of toll on the BMIC road
is illegal. Mallikarjun
Kharge, Leader of the Oppo-
sition in the Assembly, has
said that as per the Memo-
randum of Understanding
(MoU) signed in 1997, toll
should be collected under
the Toll Authority Act,
which has not been enacted
by the Karnataka Legisla-
ture yet.
Addressing a press con-
ference on Monday, he said
that the Public Works De-
partment issued a notifica-
tion on toll collection on
BMIC road under the Kar-
nataka Highways Act (1964).
As for the MoU, a separate
law should be enacted to au-
thorise a private body to col-
lect the toll.
“Unless such an act is
passed in the Legislature,
toll could not be collected,”
Kharge said.
On the basis of the Act,
the toll charter should be fi-
nalised and notified to the
One of the NICE tollgates
public, he said, and argued
that the government had not
followed this procedure.
“The toll collection is illegal.
The State government
should direct the NICE to
stop collecting toll until all
mandatory norms are ful-
filed,” he said.
Kharge blamed the State
government for the exorbi-
tant toll tariff.
“As per the information I
have gathered, NICE in-
formed the Public Works De-
partment of the toll tariff
well in advance. But the gov-
ernment did not respond to
it. The government should
have asked the company to
reduce the price. Consider-
ing the government’s silence
as approval, the company
started collecting toll. Had
the government acted at the
right moment, protests
against the price could have
been averted,” he said.
Leader of the Opposition
in the Legislative Council V
S Ugrappa said that as per
the MoU, the promoter was
allowed to collect toll only af-
ter completing the first
FEE HIGH:CM
BANGALORE, DHNS: Chief
Minister B S Yeddyurappa
has said the government
will appeal to the NICE to
exempt two-wheelers and
tractors from toll on BMIC
road. Speaking to press
persons in Bangalore on
Monday, the CM said that
the toll tariff was too
high.
The government was of
the opinion that two-
wheelers and tractors de-
served exemption from
toll. Public Works minister
C M Udasi would speak to
the NICE Managing Direc-
tor Kheny and within a
day or two the revised tar-
iff would be announced.
phase of the work. The first
phase includes 41 kms of
Ring Road, 9.1 kms of link
road and 12 kms of express-
way on the Bangalore side.
“As the promoter has not
completed the work, he is
not allowed to collect toll,”
he said.