Over 200 booked for rioting at Gurgaon toll plaza

Over 200 people, including Gurgaon Block Samiti chairman, several sarpanches (village heads) and former sarpanches have been booked for rioting at Kherki Daula toll plaza on the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway, police said Wednesday.

Gurgaon Block Samiti (block committee) chairman Hoshiyar Singh Yadav, Shikohpur sarpanch Shyochand Yadav, former Block Samiti chairman Om Prakash Yadav and over 200 unknown people have been booked for rioting.

The case was registered at Kherki Daula police station on the complaint of Maj (Retd) T.C. Rao, CMD of Skylark Highway Solutions Limited.

Irked over toll fee being charged from local people, residents of Manesar, Shikohpur, Sikanderpur, Kherki Daula, Narsinghpur, Rampura and other villages Tuesday gathered at the toll plaza and forced open all the 21 lanes for over an hour and a half.

People alleged the toll staff, manager and Rao, who is mostly present at the toll gate, always use abusive language.

The Millennium City Expressway Ltd. is the concessionaire company while Skylark Highway Solutions is operating the expressway.

The protestors had alleged Tuesday that people from 31 villages which have been given toll exemption since the toll plaza was set up were being forced to pay the toll.

Mahesh Yadav, a protestor, told IANS that CMD of Skylark Highway Major (Retd) T.C. Rao, after taking charge of the toll plaza, ordered his staff to charge locals saying he also belongs to the area and would tackle any situation.

The villagers also wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday alleging that Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has been biased against this region regarding the toll policy.

"Every road connecting Gurgaon to neighbouring districts has a toll plaza on it. If the people from Hooda's hometown Rohtak can get relief in toll fee, why not the citizens of Gurgaon," they questioned in their letter demanding intervention by Modi.

"We will continue to fight for our rights and will soon call a Mahapanchayat on the toll issue," former Block Samiti chairman Om Prakash Yadav told IANS.