Residents of Hejamadi village of Karnataka constructed a parallel road to bypass the toll booth. The new road was built on Mangaluru-Udupi highway, after the Indian government made the FASTag mandatory earlier this year.
Hejamadi residents were given concession. However, four buses that pick up passengers from the village, did not got any concession.
There have been frequent clashes between locals and toll companies over concession. There has also been a growing demands of locals wanting a toll-free service as another option.
The villagers demanded that their demands should be addressed by the authorities. After a long discussion between the authorities and the villagers, a written assurance was given that they will give concession to the buses in the future. However, the buses have already started using the temporary roads.
Addressing the issue, the gram panchayat petitioned the concessionaire for the buses too. In fact, the authorities promised to give concession to the buses that come to pick up passengers from the village. However, it never came. Tired of waiting, the gram panchayat called for an emergency meeting and decided to do away with the toll plaza, reported Bangalore Mirror.
Villagers hired a JCB backhoe and constructed a temporary road to bypass the toll booths. The new road has come up alongside the main road to bypass the toll plaza. Even though the concessionaire came to the spot after getting the news of the new road being constructed, the villagers protested but did not stop building the new road.
NHAI officials claimed that the locals do not want to pay the toll charges and want to move around freely. The NHAI has issued passes to the villagers. However, with the introduction of the FASTags, no physical pass works at the toll gate. Even the villagers who want a concession need to put up the FASTag and then seek a concession.
Due to the new rules, protests were held at the airport toll plaza near Davanahalli. The locals protested for a toll-free road. The protesters want an option where they can use a toll-free road to reach their homes. There are quite a few toll plazas around India that offer a toll-free road for local vehicles.However, that option was not available to the Hejamadi villagers