KUMABALAM: More issues are coming up against the functioning and structure of the toll plaza on Kumablam bridge. The toll plaza has been drawing flak from various corners owing to the frequent disputes between the toll agents and commuters.Two incidents on Friday and Saturday have brought the issue of the toll plaza and its unscientific nature to the limelight. On Friday the toll agents had a tussle with the private bus crew at the plaza while on Saturday night a passenger got his hand crushed between the bus and the plaza.Day-by-day fresh problems are affecting normal traffic through the newly opened Kumbalam Toll Plaza.Though the National Highway Authorities of India (NHAI) claim that the plaza is scientifically designed, the huge turbine owned by the KSEB got trapped in between the narrow gateway of the plaza, which in turn caused losses to the KSEB. The KSEB had to shell out Rs 50,000 to rebuild the four-lane toll entry, which had to be demolished to make way for the huge turbine.As some private bus operators sought time to pay the toll on their return trip on Friday morning, the toll plaza witnessed a street fight between the bus crew and the toll collecting agents.The incident occurred on Friday morning after the crew of the private bus plying between Aroor and Ernakulam refused to pay the toll. Then the toll agents got furious and attacked the bus crew. Hearing about the tug of war between the toll agents and the bus crew, the crew of other buses too joined the brawl.Suddenly the situation turned volatile and the fight spread to nearby areas and the traffic through the plaza was totally disrupted. Seeing the number of bus crew increasing steadily, the toll agents fled from the scene. Thus for nearly two hours the toll collection through the plaza was totally affected. Later the bus crew demanded the arrest of the toll agents who attacked them with lethal weapons.Then Panangad Sub-Inspector K V Benny took two toll agents Sivaprasad and Bala, hailing from Andhra Pradesh, into custody. After a disruption of nearly an hour, the toll collection was restarted. Thus Friday’s was solved in a peaceful manner. However, on Saturday night an ill-fated bus passenger suffered severe injury on his arm when his arm was trapped in between the wall of the toll booth and the bus. Then also the locals, who have been fighting to correct the unscientific operation of the toll plaza, asked the related authorities to correct the faults if any.When the huge turbine of KSEB got trapped in between the toll booth, Electricity Minister Aryadan Mohammad himself issued a statement that the toll plaza functioning at Kumbalam was totally unscientific. “We have been saying the same thing from the beginning, said the locals. Now, we have decided to raise the issue at the National level so as to put an end to the daylight looting, they warned.
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