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Farmers hold protest against toll hike at Ladhowal plaza in Ludhiana

By, Ludhiana
Jun 16, 2024 09:02 PM IST

Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Jagdish Singh said the charges at the Ladhowal plaza in Ludhiana are the highest in the state

Bhartiya Kisan Mazdoor Union (BKU-M) and BKU (Doaba) on Sunday held a protest at the Ladhowal toll plaza against a recent hike in toll fees and forced the authorities not to charge commuters. The protesters said that this was the third hike by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in a short span of time.

Protesters didn’t let staffers charge vehicles passing the Ladhowal toll plaza in Ludhiana on Sunday. (Gurpreet Singh/HT)
Protesters didn’t let staffers charge vehicles passing the Ladhowal toll plaza in Ludhiana on Sunday. (Gurpreet Singh/HT)

The unions have started an indefinite strike against the hike.

Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Jagdish Singh said the charges at the Ladhowal plaza are the highest in the state.

The toll authorities raised the charges thrice in a year, he claimed, and added that the increase put an additional financial burden on people.

BKU-M president Dilbag Singh said this is the only toll plaza in the state where the charges increased thrice in one year. “Earlier, the NHAI would hike toll prices by 5 to 10% annually. But now, the toll prices have been raised three times in one year, which is unacceptable,” he said.

“When one buys a new vehicle, he pays several types of taxes along with road tax. Then why should people pay toll tax?” he asked.

The protesters demanded withdrawal of the toll charge hike. Police were deployed at the site to control the crowd.

Charges at the toll plaza were raised in April. The recent toll hikes have seen prices soar with round-trip charges nearing 350.

“People usually spend this much on petrol or diesel to reach their destination, and now the toll charges are burning holes in their pockets,” Singh noted.

According to the latest revision in toll charges, car owners have to pay 220 for a single journey, up from 215, and 330 for a return journey, up from 325.

Ladhowal toll barrier Deepander said that the protest began around 11 am. “The unions have set up an indefinite protest. We are incurring a loss of 1 crore every 24 hours,” he said.

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