Pvt buses not to ply through Gangapada from Dec 23

Thursday December 20 2007 11:59 IST

Express News Service

BHUBANESWAR: Private bus operators of the State have decided to go on the offensive protesting collection of toll by the National Highway Authority of India at Gangapada between Bhubaneswar and Khurda.

They will stop plying through the Gangapada toll gate along National Highway 5 starting December 23, the operators announced today.

The operators, who had earlier resolved not to deposit the toll met today and decided that a fresh toll gate would lead to heavy losses which they cannot bear.

“It is just not acceptable to us that every day each bus will have to pay Rs 205 more. We decline to ply on this route,” All Orissa Private Bus Owners’ Association convenor Debashis Nayak said.

The strike would mean all private buses heading out of Khurda along NH 5 are going to be off road from Sunday. The operators have conveyed their decision to the Transport Department.

As per NHAI guidelines, the bus operators said, there can be a toll gate in 80-km interval. By that standard, the distance between Gopalpur toll gate and the new Gangapada gate is barely 40 km.

Nayak said, imposition of the new toll would mean passenger buses travelling towards Nayagarh, Phulbani and Balangir would have to pay Rs 205 a day for using just 18 km of the NH from Bhubaneswar.

Moreover, what is proposed to be collected at Gangapada is seven times higher than what is collected at Gopalpur, the operators said.

One of the reasons why bus operators said they would not pay the toll was it would eventually burden the passengers.

The bus operators association’s opposition to a new toll gate is not new. In 2004, establishment of a gate at Chandikhole had triggered vehement protests and had to be abandoned following intervention by the State Government.

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