Mangaluru, Oct 26: The indefinite protest demanding the closure of the toll plaza at NITK-Surathkal entered the fifth day on Friday. Various social and political organisations excluding Bharatiya Janata Party have extended support to the agitation launched by the Toll Gate Virodhi Horata Samiti.
On fifth day, Rakesh Malli, Karnataka state president of Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), office bearers of electrical contractors association, a team of Dalit Sangharsh Samiti and members of Surathkal Maxi Cab Owners’ Association visited the protest venue at Surathkal junction to extend support to the cause. On Thursday, District in-charge Minister U T Khader had spoken to samiti convener Muneer Katipalla over phone and expressed his concern over the issue.
Meanwhile, addressing a press conference at district BJP office on Friday, Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel claimed that the agitation was politically motivated. “The toll plaza was set up when there was UPA government at the centre. Local Congress stalwart Oscar Farnandes was a union minister that time. Nobody had raised voice against the toll plaza then,” he said.
Responding this, the speakers at the protest venue accused the MP of deceiving people and trying to twist the story. They recalled that Kateel had repeatedly assured to close the tollgate once the tollgate at Hejamady was operational.
A decision to merge the NITK tollgate with that in Hejamady after the expiry of contract was taken during a meeting between representatives from the state government and the NHAI on January 3 this year. However, fresh bids have now been invited for renewal of the contract.
“We are doing politics to solve the problems of the people. Kateel is indulging in anti-people politics,” said Mr Katipalla, inviting the MP for a public debate over the issue. “Fetch local MLA Bharath Shetty too for the debate. People of the constituency want to see him,” he added.
The agitation was launched on Monday, October 22. The contract for toll collection at NITK is set to expire to October 30 and the activists have been demanding its closure since then as the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has set up another tollgate at Hejamady, located just 9 km away. As per the guidelines of the NHAI, the minimum distance between two toll gates on the national highway should be 60 km, the protesters said.
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