Bangalore: Private taxi and lorry owners began their indefinite strike in Bangalore on Friday against what they regard as an unreasonable hike in the toll fares on the Bangalore international airport expressway. They are demanding an immediate rollback on the four-fold hike that came into effect last week.
Protestors raised slogans near the toll and demanded that the state government must take necessary steps. "We will take a call on the strike after meeting the Chief Minister today. We want the alternate service road to be opened, " said Toll Committee Chairman of the All India Motor Transport Congress GR Shanmugappa.
Vehicles with return trip will now have to pay Rs 115 instead of Rs 30. Not surprisingly, this steep hike has not gone down too well with the transporters as well as commuters. Shanmugappa who led the protests had met CM Siddaramaiah on Thursday. But the protests caused minimum traffic disruptions in the area. As a precautionary measure, there was heavy police deployment at the toll plaza. The protests fizzled out within an hour.
But soon after this, a group of JD(U) workers came to the toll plaza to stage protest against the government. Earlier this week, the BJP and JD(S), too, had objected the overnight price hike. Siddaramaih is expected to hold talks with Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Oscar Fernandes later in the day on Friday asking for the Centre's help.
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