Minister V Sunil Kumar flays move to collect combined toll at Hejamadi
Mangaluru, Dec 3: The move to collect the combined user fee at Hejamadi including the toll from the closed Surathkal toll plaza is unscientific, Karnataka Minister for Energy, Kannada and Culture V Sunil Kumar said on Saturday.
Addressing reporters in Udupi after a meeting of elected representatives and officials, he said efforts are being made to reverse the decision taken by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) at the central level.
He said the shifting of the burden from one toll gate to another is unscientific. Discussions will be held with Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai also to find a solution to the issue, he said.
The meeting held today decided to suggest to the NHAI to exempt vehicles from Udupi district from paying additional toll by creating a separate lane for them, the minister said.
The meeting was attended online by Udupi district in-charge Minister S Angara. Udupi MLA Raghupathi Bhat, Kaup MLA Lalaji Mendon, Deputy Commissioner M Kurma Rao and District Superintendent of Police Akshay Machhindra were present.
The action committee against Surathkal toll gate, which had wound up its month-long agitation against toll collection earlier this week, will be joining the protest against increased toll collection at the Hejamadi toll gate.
With the closure of the Surathkal toll gate by Wednesday, NHAI has decided to collect the same toll collected at Surathkal from Hejamadi toll plaza in addition to the existing rates at the gate.
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Cristiano Ronaldo scores his 100th Saudi Pro League goal
Riyadh (AP): Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 100th Saudi Pro League goal as Al-Nassr beat Al-Shabab 4-2 to move five points clear at the top of the table.
The 41-year-old forward converted a Sadio Mané cross at the near post with 15 minutes remaining to record the 971st goal of his career on Thursday. It was also his 26th league goal of the season.
“Ronaldo is always dangerous going forward and we saw that again today,” Al-Nassr coach Jorge Jesus said.
João Félix, signed from Chelsea in July, scored three goals for the league leaders.
The win took Al-Nassr to 82 points from 32 games, five ahead of Al-Hilal, which has three matches, one more than Nassr, left to play. Al-Hilal meets Al-Kholood on Friday and faces Nassr on Tuesday in what could be a title decider against its Riyadh rival.
“Now we have a derby match against our rival, which is a difficult encounter,” Jesus said.
“We are fully aware of its importance, and we are dealing with it with complete focus as we know that small details could decide the result.”
Ronaldo, a five-time Ballon d'Or winner, has yet to secure a major trophy in Saudi Arabia since signing with Al-Nassr in December 2022.
