Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (NM)

Mangalore, Nov 27: A meeting was held at the deputy commissioner's office here on Saturday November 26 to discuss the toll gate and road extension projects undertaken in the city. Officials from IRCON and Navyug constructions along with locals were present.

Speaking on the occasion, IRCON director Gowasane said that toll gates will come up in three places - Suratkal, BC Road and at the Karnataka-Kerala border. At the meeting, however, only the proposed toll gates at Suratkal and BC Road were discussed.
 
The Mangalore New Port Road construction has been undertaken from Suratkal to BC road to provide better road connectivity to the port for commercial purpose, and the total length of the stretch would be 37.5 km. The toll gate would come up on this stretch, he said, adding that the National Highway Authority of India has 30 percent equity in the project.

He further said that earlier, a toll gate was supposed to come up at Panambur, but due to agitation from the locals, it was later shifted to NITK, Suratkal.

He also said that the two-wheelers and three-wheelers will be exempted from the toll. At this, some people raised objection and said that even private four-wheelers should be exempted and only commercial vehicles should be imposed tax, as private owners already pay road tax.  "We are not against toll, but it should be collected on service roads and not on main roads, as we already pay road tax," they said.

Also, a few raised the point that no tax could be imposed on a road stretching for less than 60 km, and as the Suratkal-BC Road project is only 37.5 km, no tax could be levied.

The officials replied that the tax collection is necessary as the contractors had charged more than expected, and the company also had to pay the city corporation 9.5 crore of rupees to shift the water pipelines while constructing the road. The government will not be compensating the amount, they said.

Another local demanded to know how toll could be collected when the project is not yet cmoplete.

A lady brought out the negligence of the authorities in undertaking the road construction work, and pointed out that diversions are in place but there are no street lights and the quality of the bridges too is bad, leading to more number of accidents especially at night.

The officials said that they had encountered several problems while undertaking the work, chief among which are shifting of pipelines and electricity poles. "The Mescom rule states that a particular distance should be maintained between high voltage poles and the road surface. But the biggest problem was land acquisition - there are 33 cases pending in the high court regarding land," they said.

At this, a local charged the officials with 'misrepresentation of facts before the high court' and produced documents to prove his point. The DC intervened and appealed to him not deviate from the point. The company officials replied that the court will decide on the matter.

The locals were led by public committee head Yatish Baikampady, along with representatives Harish Tejawar, Pushparaj Shetty, Mohanlal Rai, Anand Rao, corporator Revati Puthran, and others.

Another local said that between 2005 and 2010, as many as 577 fatal accidents had taken place, and the reason was that roads had been dug up everywhere, and despite diversions no proper guidance was put up. The edges of the concrete roads were not smooth, he added.

Speaking to Daijiworld, deputy commissioner Dr Channappa Gowda said that he would make a spot inspection of the road project in a week. Contractors have assured that the work would be completed by March 31, 2012, and hence the administration will wait before taking action. Some of the road work that had been stopped for two-three years have resumed now, he added.

On toll gate, he said the collection of tax was not as per rules. Tax could be levied only on a stretch that is more than 60 km, but here it is 37.5 km. He said that local representatives had been asked to submit all their grievances in writing, and based on that, a meeting will be held again and appropriate action will be taken.