Left parties demand removal of Aganampudi toll-gate

CPI & CPI(M) activists staged a protest in Visakhapatnam, demanding closure of Aganampudi toll gate. They allege money was collected illegally & BJP govt. is looting people. Toll was set up in 1998 for 4-lane road project funded by World Bank loan. Money was recovered in 5 yrs, but toll-gate continued to collect charges. Leaders Kasireddy Satyanarayana, Srinivasa Raju & others participated in the protest.

The CPI and CPI(M) activists staged a protest, demanding the closure of the Aganampudi toll gate here, on Monday.

They alleged that the money had been collected from the road users at the toll-gate for the past several years in violation of the guidelines that toll-gates should not be operated within the municipal corporation limits.

Alleging that the BJP government at the Centre was looting the people, the protesters shouted slogans demanding that the toll-gate at Aganampudi be removed.

The toll-was set up at Aganampudi in 1998, and the then TDP government had declared that the toll-gate was set up to collect toll as the Anakapalli – Anandapuram highway was widened into a four-lane one. The State government had taken a loan of ₹63 crore from the World Bank for the 4-lane road project. The toll was collected as per the World Bank reforms.

They noted that the till November 30, 2001, the toll-gate was operated by the R & B Department, and later the then Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu handed it over to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

The Left party leaders said that the money spent on the 4-lane highway project was recovered within the first five years, but the toll-gate continued to collect charges.

CPI and CPI(M) leaders Kasireddy Satyanarayana, Srinivasa Raju, B. Ganga Rao, M. Pydi Raju, Sk. Rehaman, J. Ayodhyaram, K. Satyanjaneya, C.N. Kshetrapal, G. Rambabu, R. Srinivasa Rao and N. Nagabushanam among those who participated in the protest.