Toll collection resumed on the Kappirikkad-Kodungallur stretch of NH 66 at Nattika on Saturday, despite protests over alleged incomplete construction work and uncertainty about the formal status of an earlier suspension. Police removed protesters who blocked access to the toll plaza to enable collection to restart.
The resumption followed the suspension of tolling within hours of its introduction on Thursday. The suspension came after protests against charging motorists before all works on the stretch were completed. PWD minister PK Basheer announced the suspension in a video message after sports minister O J Janeesh brought the issue to his attention.
However, reports cited by the Times of India said no formal order suspending toll collection had been issued. The circumstances under which the toll company resumed collection on Saturday were not immediately clear. Officials of the National Highways Authority of India did not respond to questions about the resumption, while the office of Janeesh also did not respond. The minister was in New Delhi.
The protests were led by political parties across the state’s political spectrum. CPM district secretary K V Abdul Khader, along with CPI functionaries V S Sunilkumar and Geetha Gopi MLA, led the Left Democratic Front protest. The United Democratic Front agitation was led by DCC president Joseph Tajet, AICC secretary T N Prathapan, KPCC general secretary Jose Vallur and Muslim League functionary C A Rasheed. SDPI workers also participated in the protests.
Protesters said several components of the highway project remained unfinished, including bridges, approach roads, service roads and drainage facilities. An earlier official statement quoting Janeesh had also acknowledged that some service roads and bridges along the stretch were incomplete.
The NHAI’s position is that construction on the Kappirikkad-Kodungallur stretch has been completed. According to sources cited in the report, NHAI officials told the government that some of the works identified by protesters were not included in the original construction agreement. They maintained that tolling was being collected only on sections completed in accordance with that agreement.
The dispute has therefore centred not only on the physical condition of the corridor but also on the definition of project completion under the highway contract. While the authority has treated the contracted stretch as complete for tolling purposes, protesters have linked toll eligibility to the completion of associated infrastructure used by local residents and highway traffic, including service roads, drainage and approach connections.
In his video message, Basheer said he had directed the district collector to inspect the site with the officials concerned, convene an all-party meeting and submit a report within a week. It was not clear whether a formal direction had been issued to the collector. There was also no indication that the inspection or meeting had taken place before toll collection resumed.
The next official step identified in the report is the proposed district-level inspection and all-party meeting, followed by a report to the state government. The status of those proceedings, and the basis on which toll collection was resumed, remained to be clarified by the concerned authorities.
