New Delhi: Residents of southwest Delhi villages near the Mundka-Bakkarwala toll plaza on the Urban Extension Road-II staged a protest on Saturday, demanding exemption from toll charges and the reopening of the closed cuts near the plaza. The 54.2km UER-2, inaugurated on Aug 17, is meant to improve connectivity, especially with Indira Gandhi International Airport.The protest, going on since Aug 26, intensified after villagers alleged they were charged Rs 235 every time they used the highway for travel. Chaudhary Surender Solanki, chief of Palam 360 Khap and protest leader, said, “It is festival time and we have to travel to visit relatives. But this toll dampens our festive spirit.” He said the protest would continue indefinitely if the toll wasn’t abolished for locals.One of the key grievances remains the closure of U-turn cuts. An NHAI official justified the design saying, “UER-2 is an access-controlled highway and opening median cuts at the toll plaza may lead to fatal accidents due to high-speed traffic.”Kanti Kharab of neighbouring Madanpur and head of the women’s wing of the protest, said, “We have to go from our villages to our farms several times a day but doing this costs us Rs 350 a month.” To bypass the toll, people are forced to use internal roads of Bakkarwala village, causing traffic jams on that stretch. Saurabh Dabas, a local teacher from Mundka, added, “My children who use Delhi Metro now go through internal roads to avoid paying the toll. A roadway meant to ease our commute has instead become a problem.”Several residents pointed out that in neighbouring Rajasthan and Haryana, locals are not charged for travels up to a distance of 10km from the toll plaza. Pradeep Chaudhary of Rani Kheda said, “The authorities offered us a monthly pass of Rs 350 though the road was built on our land acquired by DDA in 2006. Villagers travelling up to 20km should be exempted from paying toll because this is a crucial road for us.”The protesters, supported by Khap leaders, have asked govt to waive the toll for locals by Sept 20, else they will stop paying from Sept 21 and intensify their agitation. Dharmender Sehrawat displayed an RTI application filed a year ago about the toll plaza’s expected impact, which reportedly never received a response. A delegation of villagers also met Union home minister Amit Shah’s office to complain of lack of relief.On relief measures, an NHAI official said a local monthly pass of ₹350 was available for non-commercial vehicles of residents living within 20km of the toll plaza. “There is no toll charge for local people, only an administrative fee of ₹350 per month,” he said, adding that alternative routes were available and reportedly being used to bypass the toll.
