Chennai
Opining that sudden hike in highway toll would affect middle class people and traders, who are dependent on freight carriers, Stalin, in a message posted on his Facebook page, said that it was only fair to reduce or scrap highway toll when the period of operation of the toll gates increases.
“The State government is engaging in daylight robbery by secretly hiking the toll without undertaking basic maintenance work of the roads,” Stalin alleged. Remarking that toll gates should not be detrimental to the welfare of people, the DMK president urged the government to immediately roll back the toll hike.
DMK had promised in its manifesto for the April 19 Lok Sabha polls that it would do away with toll gates whose contract period had expired. Even the ruling AIADMK had promised to close toll gates on National Highways.
Joining the issue with Stalin, AMMK leader and RK Nagar MLA TTV Dhinakaran also condemned National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for increasing the toll charges and demanded the closure of toll plazas whose contract have expired. In a series of tweets, he noted that it was the duty of the State and Centre to ensure good roads for tax paying motorists. Dhinakaran also demanded the Highways department to roll back the revised rates collected in all TN toll booths. The NHAI had failed to be transparent in revising the toll rates and the sudden hike without any announcement was a rude shock for the public and motorists, the RK Nagar MLA added.
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