No extension, 2 toll plazas on Sangrur-Ludhiana road shut

Sangrur, September 4

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann today announced the closure of two toll plazas on the Sangrur-Ludhiana road as their term is going to expire tonight. One of the toll plazas is near Ladda and another is near Lehra.

“The toll plaza operators were seeking an extension of 20 months or Rs 50 crore in compensation. I rejected both their demands and ordered the closure of the toll plazas in public interest,” said the CM while addressing residents at the Ladda toll plaza.

The two toll plazas started operations on September 5, 2015, for a period of seven years.

Paramjit Singh, manager of the Ladda toll plaza, said: “We incurred huge losses during the farm agitation and Covid. We had sought an extension, but the CM refused. We will shut down the toll plazas tonight.”

“The two toll plazas were a ‘gift’ of the then Akali government. Then Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had promised that the Ladda toll plaza would not be made operational. But after the SAD candidate won the Dhuri bypoll, the Badal government took an about-turn,” said CM Mann.

Toll plaza operators enhance charges “as per their whims and fancies”, thereby, putting a huge burden on the pocket of people, he said, adding that “for seven years, people paid huge amounts of money. The AAP government is analysing the terms of other tolls and checking whether or not they are following the norms”.

Reiterating that his government was regularly working to restore the pristine glory of the state, Mann said it was a matter of great pride and satisfaction for him that the Tata group will set up a big project in the state near Ludhiana with an investment of Rs 2,600 crore.

‘First CM to do so’

Satnam Singh, an elderly person from Sangrur, has thanked CM Bhagwant Mann for closing the two toll plazas. “Mann is the first Punjab CM, who has dared to take action against big companies and closed two toll plazas. We hope he will fulfil other poll-promises as well,” he said.