Mohan Kuthar
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (MS)
Mangaluru, Dec 15: Chaos prevailed near the Talapady tollgate here on Sunday December 15 with FASTag becoming mandatory for vehicles. Private bus personnel had heated verbal arguments with the tollgate staff over the issue.
Several buses ply from Talapady to Mangaluru via the tollgate. City buses, which have to maintain their timings strictly are in trouble because of the new rule. As only one counter has been opened for this purpose, there was a huge queue near the tollgate on Sunday.
The city bus personnel pressured the tollgate staff to open one more counter. They also questioned that if the situation was so chaotic on Sunday, a general holiday, what would it be on other days of the week when there is rush.
The private city buses which used to ply till the Talapady bus stop past the tollgate are now taking a detour, turning before the tollgate and not going to the earlier final stop due to the delay that is taking place in the FASTag lane of the toll gate. Passengers are in a quandary as they need to walk a distance of one km in order to board the bus to Mangaluru.
Private city bus personnel are adamant that they will not take the bus through the Talapady tollgate till the tollgate staff provides a separate lane for the private buses or an additional counter for FASTag.
The passengers travelling to far off places like Kasargod and Kerala are also facing difficulties as the buses are standing for a long time in queue at the Talapady tollgate.