Mangaluru police detained 130 protesters who gathered at the Surathkal toll gate in the outskirts of the city on Tuesday, October 18. The protest was organised by the Tollgate Virodhi Horata Samithi, an organisation opposed to the Surathkal toll gate, and was supported by the Congress party. “After the protest, those who gathered tried to lay siege to the toll booth. So they were stopped and detained under preventive arrest,” Mangaluru Police Commissioner Shashi Kumar told reporters. One Congress leader, Mithun Rai, was seen climbing on the toll booth during the protest.
Mithun Rai, Ivan D’Souza, Pratibha Kulai, JR Lobo, all from the Congress, and Muneer Katipalla, a Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) leader, were among those detained by the police. Muneer in particular has been at the centre of the agitation demanding the removal of the Surathkal toll booth over the past six years.
The Surathkal toll has long been a contentious issue in Dakshina Kannada, due to the existence of two toll booths in the district — Surathkal and Hejamady — spaced 11 km apart. Activists have pointed out that two toll booths cannot be located less than 60 km apart as per the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) rules. The disputed toll booths are located on National Highway 66, which runs along the Western coast of India. The Surathkal toll booth is also just 45 km from the Talapady toll booth, which is at the Kerala-Karnataka border.
“The MLA should be asked why this agitation has reached this point. There have been peaceful protests over this toll issue for the past six years, but we have only been given false promises. This is wrong. The toll gate should be removed because there are two toll plazas located close to each other. Even yesterday, the MP (Nalin Kumar Kateel) asked for 15 more days. This is a sham and they are trying to stop our protest by arresting us,” Padmaraj, a social activist from Mangaluru, told reporters on Tuesday.
The National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) Rules, 2008, states that two toll booths should be spaced at least 60 km apart. However, a caveat in the rules allows exceptions to be made in certain cases due to unavailability of land, traffic congestion, or improper location.
The NHAI, in a response to an RTI filed by Diraj Alva, former president of the Dakshina Kannada District Bus Owners Association, in March this year reiterated that the toll booths on National Highway 66 were as per the rules. “The development work of the national highway is done as per requirements. Therefore, two adjoining sections constructed at different times in separate contracts, having a length of less than 60 km, may have the fee plaza within 60 km," the reply stated.
Several activists involved in the agitation were issued notices late on Saturday night. Congress leader Prathibha Kulai, whose house was also visited by the police at midnight, lashed out at the district administration and the BJP over the police’s actions, criticising them in a Facebook post.