Flyway or their way: farmers take over DND for 4 hours, Rs 7 lakh loss to govt
20 Nov 2012 5:08 AM IST
Hundreds of farmers forced the operators of Delhi Noida Direct (DND) Flyway to give a free passage for commuters for around four hours on Sunday. The farmers handed over a memorandum to the company officials demanding complete abolition of toll tax on the DND as the company has reportedly recovered its investment.
‘They must disclose their investment and income details to the public. The company has recovered the investment around two years back it had put for construction of DND project, now they must stop toll tax collection. However, a maintenance charge can be imposed by the company for which the vehicles of farmers, media, administration and poor must be exempted,’ said Ajay Pal Sharma, district president of Gautam Buddha Nagar (GBN) of Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) to Millennium Post. The farmers of nearby villages in Noida reached at the DND toll bridge at around 11.00 am on Sunday morning and stopped collection of toll tax by taking control of toll gates making a free passage for commuters till 3.00 pm in the evening in the full glare of police and officers of Noida authority and district administration. ‘We have given them eight days time to consider our demands and rework our strategy thereafter,’ added Sharma.
Meanwhile, the Federation of RWAs in Noida called off its decision to join the protest after the operator, Noida Toll Bridge Company Ltd (NTBCL) announed to roll back recent hike in toll rates on Saturday evening.
‘Their demand to exempt the vehicles of farmers from toll tax will be put up in the next board meeting of the company for consideration. We have bargained a eight days time to respond on this demand,’ said Anwar Abbasi, spokesperson of DND Flyway. However, he refused to comment, when asked about other demands.
When asked about the demand of farmers the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Noida Sanjeev refused to comment on the issue.
According to the operator it incurred a loss of around Rs 7.0 to Rs 8.0 lakh due to the protest. ‘However, the traffic is usually thin on Sunday but it was a heavy traffic due to ongoing India International Trade Fair (IITF) in Pragati Maidan and the normal strength of vehicles passing through DND was around 4,000 cars per hour,’ said Abbasi.
The eight laned 9.2 km DND was constructed on Built Own Operate and Transfer (BOOT) bais with a cost of around Rs 450 crore to the company and was opened for public on 7 February 2001. Another stretch Mayur Vihar Link was opened for public on 19 January 2008.
‘They must disclose their investment and income details to the public. The company has recovered the investment around two years back it had put for construction of DND project, now they must stop toll tax collection. However, a maintenance charge can be imposed by the company for which the vehicles of farmers, media, administration and poor must be exempted,’ said Ajay Pal Sharma, district president of Gautam Buddha Nagar (GBN) of Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) to Millennium Post. The farmers of nearby villages in Noida reached at the DND toll bridge at around 11.00 am on Sunday morning and stopped collection of toll tax by taking control of toll gates making a free passage for commuters till 3.00 pm in the evening in the full glare of police and officers of Noida authority and district administration. ‘We have given them eight days time to consider our demands and rework our strategy thereafter,’ added Sharma.
Meanwhile, the Federation of RWAs in Noida called off its decision to join the protest after the operator, Noida Toll Bridge Company Ltd (NTBCL) announed to roll back recent hike in toll rates on Saturday evening.
‘Their demand to exempt the vehicles of farmers from toll tax will be put up in the next board meeting of the company for consideration. We have bargained a eight days time to respond on this demand,’ said Anwar Abbasi, spokesperson of DND Flyway. However, he refused to comment, when asked about other demands.
When asked about the demand of farmers the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Noida Sanjeev refused to comment on the issue.
According to the operator it incurred a loss of around Rs 7.0 to Rs 8.0 lakh due to the protest. ‘However, the traffic is usually thin on Sunday but it was a heavy traffic due to ongoing India International Trade Fair (IITF) in Pragati Maidan and the normal strength of vehicles passing through DND was around 4,000 cars per hour,’ said Abbasi.
The eight laned 9.2 km DND was constructed on Built Own Operate and Transfer (BOOT) bais with a cost of around Rs 450 crore to the company and was opened for public on 7 February 2001. Another stretch Mayur Vihar Link was opened for public on 19 January 2008.
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