Protests as toll collection begins on newly opened Bengaluru-Mysuru highway
Ramanagara, Mar 14: Two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway, several outfits staged protests at a toll plaza near here on Tuesday, opposing the National Highways Authority of India's (NHAI) decision to levy charges without proper service roads and passes for local residents.
Opposition Congress workers too joined the protesters and held demonstrations.
The protesters are opposed to collecting toll fees until the entire project is completed. They have also expressed reservations regarding service roads not being built, and the toll rate fixed being too high.
Amid heavy presence of police personnel, protesters shouted slogans demanding justice and also criticised the government, while some even threatened to destroy the toll plaza altogether. Several protesters were detained by the police.
Being the first day of toll collection, some technical glitches also added to the chaos, making commuters wait for a long time, due to congestion.
Many cab drivers, who commute on the stretch daily, hit out at NHAI authorities for mismanagement, charging high toll fees for short distances, and no proper service road.
"I'm going for 20 kilometres on this stretch, for which I have to pay Rs 147, where should we go? If there was a proper service road, I wouldn't have come here, how should I go?" a taxi driver asked.
Another car driver heading towards Ramanagara, alleged that locals have not been issued any passes. "This is not right, locals are facing the problems."
Speaking in Bengaluru, Karnataka Congress President D K Shivakumar said it was not right for the Prime Minister to have inaugurated the Expressway, without the completion of the project and having no proper service roads to help local residents.
"It was done for the sake of politics ahead of elections and not for the sake of people," he asserted.
Later in the evening, Shivakumar tweeted: "I have seen on TV and newspapers since morning about people expressing outrage near the toll centre on the Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway. Today, I too had an experience while travelling from Bidadi to Ramanagara. To go from Bidadi to Ramanagara, I had to pay a toll of Rs 135, they have charged Rs 270 in the pretext of a problem with the FASTag scanner."
On March 12, Prime Minister Modi inaugurated the 118-km Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway project here. It will reduce the travel time between Bengaluru and Mysuru from around three hours to about 75 minutes, according to officials.
The Rs 8,480 crore project involved six-laning of the Bengaluru-Nidaghatta-Mysuru section of NH-275, and will act as a catalyst for socio-economic development in the region, they said.
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AIITA welcomes Karnataka’s ban on obscene songs in school events
Bhatkal: The Karnataka unit of the All India Ideal Teachers Association (AIITA) has welcomed the Karnataka government’s decision to strictly ban school children from dancing to obscene songs during educational and cultural programmes in government, aided, and private schools across the state.
AIITA Karnataka State President M. R. Manvi congratulated the government for taking what he termed an important step to preserve the sanctity of education.
“Such decisions to safeguard the dignity of school children and uphold the values of education are the need of the hour. This rule should not be limited to government schools alone but must be strictly implemented in all private educational institutions as well,” he said.
He further urged the government to address other concerns within school programmes.
“The government should not only prohibit obscene dances in the name of school anniversaries, but also ensure that plays and dialogues that incite religious hatred are avoided. Schools should be centres of harmony, not platforms for spreading hatred,” he added.
According to a recent circular issued by the Department of School Education and Literacy, obscene dances are adversely affecting the mental health and moral values of students.
In this regard, schools have been advised to use songs that promote nationalism, positive thinking, the greatness of Kannada culture, and value-based traditions instead of inappropriate content during programmes.
The circular also emphasises that students should be dressed in decent attire.
AIITA also backed the department’s warning that disciplinary action would be taken against head teachers if such guidelines are violated. The association has further demanded that district Deputy Directors of Public Instruction strictly monitor the implementation of these rules.
