Dindigul – Kanyakumari National Highway is located through Keppur under Tirumangalam block of Madurai district. The people have been fighting for more than 10 years to remove the toll booth, claiming that the toll booth has been set up illegally at a distance of 2 kilometers from the Tirumangalam municipal boundary in the Kepilur area on this road.
Kepilur toll plaza
The local motorists staged various stages of protest demanding the removal of the Kepilur toll plaza. From time to time, the Kepilur toll gate administration gave toll exemption to local motorists.
Advocacy notice
Last week, on behalf of the toll booth administration, local motorists have been sent legal notices to motorists asking them to pay a toll fee ranging from 50 thousand to 22 lakh rupees for passing the 4-year toll booth from 2020 to 24.
Fee Exemption
There will be no toll exemption for local vehicles from today. Both the customs authorities had announced a few days ago that the local motorists would have to pay 50% of the toll, giving a 50% toll exemption from the vehicle toll.
In this situation, the motorists of Tirumangalam region staged a blockade today in protest against this.
Former minister RB Udayakumar joined the protest along with his supporters in support of the protest. More than a hundred women sat in front of the toll booth and protested.
Former Minister RB Udayakumar
More than 100 policemen under the leadership of Tirumangalam DSP Arul were engaged in security. Subsequently, traffic has been changed. Due to the protest, motorists going to Madurai metropolitan area and people going to out of town were affected.
There was no compromise despite negotiations. In this situation, the police arrested the former minister and the deputy leader of the opposition in the Legislative Assembly, RB Udayakumar.
Also, Tirumangalam Kotaksyar Shanthi and Tirumangalam Tahsildar held talks with the arrested former minister RB Udayakumar.
Three requests
In this dialogue, the tollbooth administration has been invited and the negotiations are going on. They have been continuously insisting on three demands that the service road allotted to them should be constructed or toll exemption should be given and the toll booth should be removed.
