Despite HC’s orders, farm activists demolish inoperative toll plaza
IT WAS THE 2ND TOLL BOOTH ON THE STRETCH THAT WAS DAMAGED BY THE VILLAGERS IN VIOLATION OF THE COURT ORDERS
BATHINDA: Activists of Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta Sidhupur) demolished an inoperative toll plaza building near Ghumman Kalan village in the Maur subdivision of Bathinda district on Friday. According to the officials of the public works department (PWD) and district police, the Punjab and Haryana high court has stayed the demolition of all toll booth complexes located on the Bhawanigarh-Kotshamir route. The court is scheduled to hear the matter next month.
It was the second non-functional toll booth on the stretch that was damaged by the villagers in violation of the court orders in the last eight months.
On December 21, members of the Dakanuda faction of the BKU first damaged the building at Dhaipai in Mansa district.
Today, villagers gathered at the toll plaza with a JCB machine and other equipment to raze the structure. They targeted the building in the presence of the police. BKU (Sidhupur) Bathinda district unit’s general secretary, Resham Singh Yatri, said the toll building was non-functional and was causing inconvenience to commuters at night, and the accidents had become a regular feature at the spot.
“We had given representations to the district administration for the last several weeks. Our demand to raze the structure was taken lightly and after the deadline of August 2, we started demolishing ourselves. We will completely demolish the complex and remove debris in 2-3 days,” Yatri said, who was leading the protest.
The union leader said the PWD officials had informed the protesters about the stay order. “But we had to take action in the public interest,” he added.
PWD executive engineer Kanwaljit Singh Brar said the high court had granted a stay on the removal of the toll booth complex on the Bhawanigarh-Kotshamir via Bhikhi route on a petition filed by a private firm appointed to collect road use fees on the road.
“The next date of the hearing is on September 16, and the stay was not vacated,” he added. Official sources said about 16 years ago, the road was widened with a loan from the World Bank.
To repay the loan, the previous Congress government decided to charge road user fees, and a firm was allocated work to collect tolls. However, following a protest by the public, the toll collection work could not start.
The private construction later approached the court with demanded damages of ₹13 crore that it had invested in the toll plazas in 2018, but that was never operationalised due to protests by villagers.
Bathinda SSP Deepak Pareek, whose transfer orders were released today, said that a police team was deployed for a law and order situation. “Officials of the civil and police administration intervened to pacify the protesters. They were informed about the stay order, and the district authorities have fixed a meeting with the villagers on Monday,” the SSP said.