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Hard Landing for Fliers Starts from Today

  • Toll collection beginning at Friday midnight has left private and public transport operators unhappy.Nevertheless, with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) refusing to back out from collecting toll, most taxi associations are debating whether to continue their protests against toll or accept it as inevitable.Siddaramaiah, president of Karnataka Tourist Motor Cab/Maxi Cab Owners’ Welfare Association, said: “We don’t like the toll and we oppose its collection. We’ve not made a decision on whether to withdraw services from the airport. Considering that there are other services to the airport, we will wait for them to take a stance and decide accordingly.”
  • RK Holla of Bangalore Tourist Taxi Owner’s Association said although stopping vehicles might not be feasible, a decision in this regard willbe taken after a meeting with NHAI authorities on Friday morning.Although the NHAI is expecting agitations, RK Gupta, its project director, does not expect protests to turn violent.“Protests have been going on. Technically, we should have started collecting toll at least four years ago, when the four-lane stretch was ready. But we deferred it. We are only working according to the rules set by the government,” he said.
  • Public transport operators too are upset over the toll collection en route to the airport.“Unlike other buses, we do at least 10 trips per day and each time we have to pay a toll. Each trip will cost Rs45 on an average and we have over 61 airport buses doing 415 trips per day and 30 ordinary buses doing 260 trips towards Devanahalli from various parts of the city. The amount we have to pay by way of toll will come up to about Rs30,000. We’ve no option but to collect this from the passengers,” a BMTC official said.According to a BMTC statement, Rs5 will be collected from those plying Vayu Vajra buses towards the airport and Re1 will be collected from those plying from Devanahalli to Chikkajala in ordinary buses. Even those using monthly passes will have to pay an extra Re1 in case of ordinary buses and Rs5 per day in case of Vayu Vajra services.

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