Mangaluru: Dakshina Kannada Mattu Udupi Rashtriya Heddari Horata Samiti threatened on Monday that it will forcibly close four toll booths along NH 66 between Talapady and Kundapura if the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) did not complete the four-lane project at the earliest.

Devi Prasad Shetty, president, samiti, said the concessionaire of the NHAI was not speeding up road widening work in Mangaluru and Udupi. The delay in completing the work, initiated ten years ago, was affecting motorists and was causing many accidents. Mr. Shetty accused the NHAI of changing the alignment of the road in Padubidri and some other places to meet the requirement of the local business community. He said several portions of NH 66 had potholes, some near the toll booths.

Despite incomplete work, the NHAI has allowed the concessionaire to collect toll. The samiti will submit a memorandum on August 16 to the Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada. “If steps are not taken by the end of this month, we will forcefully shut down operations of the toll booths,” he said.

Meanwhile, after the Assistant Commissioners of Mangaluru and Kundapur initiated proceedings under Section 133 of the Criminal Procedure Code against the concessionaire Navayug Udupi Tollway Pvt. Ltd. for delaying the completion, the company has been submitting weekly reports about the widening work.

The concessionaire has given in writing that the flyover at Thokkottu will be complete by December, and the one in Pumpwell by March 2019.