Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Jun 6:

The Odisha government today issued a notification to put on hold until further orders the May 18 notification on revised toll collection in the state.

toll gate

It may be recalled that the state Commerce and Transport department had issued a notification on May 18 stating that passengers travelling for more than 40 km at a stretch will have to share the toll apart from the bus fare. As per the notification, two-third of the fee was to be borne by the passengers and the rest by the bus operator.

The May 18 notification had led to severe protests by bus operators in the state who had threatened to stop plying of buses passing through all eight toll gates in the state set up by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) from June 1.

However, after getting assurance from Commerce and Transport Minister Ramesh Chandra Majhi regarding the postponement of the collection of hiked toll, the association had decided to continue bus service in the routes.

The state government on June 4 decided to shelve the decision to collect the hiked toll fee for a month after a meeting with top officials of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).