Mangaluru: Come Wednesday, February 1 four toll gates at Talapady, Gundmi, Hejamady and NITK Suratkal, situated on NH 66 will start collecting toll.

The tolls will be set functioning following a directive from the National Highway Authority of India.

Though commuters have been paying at the NITK Surathkal toll plaza, the remaining three toll gates will become operational from midnight of Tuesday.

While small passenger vehicles viz. car, jeep and vans will need to pay toll charges of Rs 40, Rs 30 and Rs 35 respectively for one way movement, the two-way charges for these vehicles is Rs 60, Rs 45 and Rs 50 respectively.
Buses and trucks will pay Rs 130 and Rs 195 at Gundmi toll gate, Rs 105 and 160 at Hejamady toll gate and Rs 110 and Rs 165 at Talapady toll gate for one way and two way movement respectively.

Special passes can be availed by vehicles, which move regularly for commercial purposes and the same can be used 50 times in a month. These passes are available from Rs 1155 to Rs 8280 at different toll gates for different vehicles. Locals residing within 20 kilometres of a particular toll gate can avail of monthly passes costing Rs 235.

The management of Talapady, Gundmi and Hejamady toll gates has been given to Navayuga Company, which did the highway work. NITK too will be managed by Navayuga within next 6 months.

People protest toll collection without completion of work
Meanwhile, people have raised voices citing that toll collection while the work on the 4-lane highway is yet to be completed is totally unacceptable. Work at Karavali junction in Udupi is still in progress and work at Padubidri is yet to take off.