JAMMU, March 14: Shri Ram Sena (SRS), J&K, slammed the so called toll plazas installed at different locations along the National Highways in Jammu region, starting from the entry point of Jammu and Kashmir i.e, Lakhanpur.
Briefing media persons here today, Rajiv Mahajan, J&K UT President of Shri Ram Sena, said that commuters are facing huge hardships due to faulty scanners installed at toll plazas. He alleged that the contractors using poor infrastructure at the toll plazas, which makes it difficult to get the FASTag scanned properly due to which the commuters are forced to suffer. He said that there are numerous complaints that despite available of sufficient balance in the accounts of commuters the faulty scanners installed at toll plazas showing ‘Blacklisted’ accounts.
Mahajan sought stern action against the contractors for install defunct scanners due to which the commuters are being harassed due to none of their fault. He demanded that if vehicle has a valid FASTag or any other smart tag with enough balance, but the equipment installed at toll plaza is unable to process it due to any malfunctioning or non-functioning, the commuter should be allowed to the pass that toll plaza free of cost.
The SRS president asserted that word ‘Blacklisted’ should be removed from the software running the toll plazas. He said despite available of enough balance, the commuters showed ‘Blacklisted’ by these defunct scanners, harassing the commuters in front of others sitting in the vehicle.
Besides this, the toll plazas contractors are not obeying the guidelines of NHAI. He said the commuters were forced to pay double amount if he/she crossed the same toll plaza within 12 hours. He asked NHAI to clarify such issues and installed proper information boards at the toll plazas for the welfare of road-users as per the displaying toll charges boards installed at toll plazas.
Rajiv Mahajan demanded that government probe the functioning of toll plazas across the Jammu and Kashmir after regular intervals and if any found guilty the contract of such contractor should immediate be cancelled. Besides this, the NHAI should give directions to all the toll plazas for installation of commercial scanners for the welfare of commuters.
The Central Government, in particular the Ministry of Defence, should formulate such rules which will enable the parents and dependents of Army Officers / Jawans not to pay fees at toll plazas on proper production of their I-Cards issued by the defence authorities. It will go along way as a humanitarian gesture for the dependents of Army Officers / Jawans.