Ludhiana, April 19: Despite the orders of a Lok Adalat, toll is being collected at the Ladhowal plaza, near the Sutlej bridge, on the Jalandhar-Ludhiana national highway. The permanent Lok Adalat, Kapurthala, had on Tuesday barred the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) from collecting toll at Ladhowal plaza, near Phillaur.
A day after Lok Adalat’s order, the commuters were seen complaining about toll collection at the Ladhowal barrier.
Meanwhile, Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) chief and MLA from the Atam Nagar constituency, Simarjit Singh Bains reached the toll plaza and asked the staff concerned to stop charging toll. His video exchanging arguments with a toll plaza official has also gone viral.
Bains alleged that the toll plaza authorities were violating the court orders.
He said, “When I was on the way to Phagwara, I was shocked to see toll being still collected at the Ladhowal plaza. It is contempt of the court. I asked the manager at the plaza to stop collecting toll but he claimed that he has not received any court orders. Their advocate was present in the court, but they were still charging toll against the court orders.”
“We made people pass the barrier without paying toll on Wednesday. When I was returning to Ludhiana from Phagwara, they were charging the toll in a very clever manner. Toll plaza staff claimed that they are noting down only details of the vehicles but they were also charging toll from many. Now, I will meet the Police Commissioner, Ludhiana, as it is the responsibility of the police to ensure the implementation of the court orders. Our LIP volunteers will keep check on the toll plaza for the next one week. The Ladhowal police officials are hand in glove with the toll plaza authorities,” he claimed.
Ladhowal police station Station House Officer Inspector Jaswinder Singh said, “I visited the toll plaza after MLA Simarjit Singh Bains reached there. The toll plaza staff claimed that they have not received the court orders, so they are charging toll.”
Toll plaza manager CS Rathore could not be contacted for comment.
Source: http://www.tribuneindia.com
