Mangaluru : The local commuters along National Highway 66 in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts continued their opposition to toll collection With FASTag  from local commuters through the highway at four toll plazas.

Concerned citizens in Dakshina Kannada submitted a memorandum to Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari through MP and State BJP president Nalin Kumar Kateel in Mangaluru on Tuesday. Demanding immediate closure of the NITK-Surathkal Toll Plaza, they said that the presence of two toll plazas, one at Surathkal and the nother at Hejmady, within a distance of 15 km was against all tenets of natural justice.

Moreover, the plaza was located within the municipal limits of Mangaluru City Corporation and hence could not continue to exist, they said.

Besides closing down the toll plaza, the amounts so far collected by the National Highways Authority of India should be deposited with the corporation to undertake works of service roads and lighting, they demanded.

Mahabala Rai, Dinakar Mithrapatna, Aloysius Monteiro, Prashant Kanchan, M.G. Ramachandra, Harush Aithal, Arjun Mascarenhas, Yathish Baikampady and others were present.

Meanwhile, personnel manning the Talapady toll plaza on Karnataka-Kerala border did not allow free passage of vehicles of local residents on Tuesday.

Hitherto, residents within the 5 km radius of the plaza were allowed to drive their vehicles through the plaza without paying toll.