Party members were protesting against the bad condition of the national highway
AAP member's protest at Nemili tollgate forcing one of the gates to shut down in the wee hours of Sunday. -DC
Chennai: In spite of fishing deep into one’s pocket and paying a toll of a minimum of Rs25 each time on national highway 4, the commuter is left to deal with a bad road filled with potholes. But on Sunday, some felt it was enough.On Sunday morning, Aam Aadmi Party members went on a protest at the Nemili tollgate on NH-4 in Sriperumbudur, forcing one of the gates to shut for nearly two hours.
The party members were protesting against the bad condition of the national highway between Walajapet and Sriperumbudur. After two hours of protest and later, a negotiation with the police, the AAP members registered a police complaint against the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the local contractor.The national highway was made operational in 2005 and connects Chennai with Bengaluru. In June 2013, NHAI handed over the toll stretch between Poonamallee and Walajapet to a private company.
This 46-km stretch receives more than 48,000 vehicles every day and a toll of Rs 55.50 crore has been collected till June this year. A 100 metres from the Nemili tollgate towards Walajapet, the road becomes rough. Potholes emerge at close intervals between patches of work done only to add to the discomfort of the users.S. Subramani, a car driver on way to Vellore, says, “ I had to fix my disc twice because of the bad condition of this stretch of the highway between Poonamallee and Walajapet. Even though we are paying toll for years, the condition has only worsened. But once we cross the Walajapet tollgate towards Bangalore, the road gets better,” he adds.
AAP activists who protested were on way back from Dharmapuri to Chennai when they had first-hand experience of the bad condition of the road as the bus trundled from one side to the other.AAP member Khaja Mohideen says, “We were returning to Chennai on a TNSTC bus. Early morning, at 3 am, when we crossed Walajapet, the road became very bad. There was an old man in the bus who got chest pain because of the way the bus was jolted.” The activists blocked one of the tollgates between 3.30 am and 6 am until the police intervened.
T. Kathiresan, in-charge of the tollgate, says, “The road was given to us in a poor condition. It is already nine years old and the top layer is wearing off. We have started re-laying at several junctions; for now three junctions have been completed and the rest will also be completed.” He adds that heavy rains also ruined the road but that the problems would be solved in a month.
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