SHILLONG, March 17: The East Khasi Hills unit of the HNYF on Friday gave the KHADC a week’s deadline to close down 18 toll gates of the council operating illegally.
The unit’s president, Bless Dkhar told reporters that the KHADC has been illegally operating these toll gates without obtaining the necessary NOC from the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and the state government.
He accused the council of operating these toll gates despite two pending litigations in the High Court of Meghalaya on the matter of the collection of tolls.
“We will be writing to the chief secretary and the deputy commissioners for the closure of these 18 tolls if the KHADC fails to comply with our one-week deadline. We will close down these toll gates on our own if the authorities fail to take any action,” Dkhar said.
The HNYF president said the KHADC never advertised nor called for a tender to operate these toll gates.
“The contracts to operate these toll gates were given to the close aides of the CEM, executive members or MDCs. We have seen the people operating these gates become rich and own huge property in a very short span of time, which is highly questionable,” he said.
Dkhar also warned the people involved in illegally operating these toll gates.
He observed it is really unfortunate that the people at the helm of affairs in the KHADC are involved in various kinds of illegalities.
“We are aware of the illegal appointments in the KHADC. No one knows about the vacancies in the council since they are never advertised,” he said.
The District Council Affairs (DCA) secretary, A. Nikhla on January 18 wrote to the secretary of the KHADC Executive Committee regarding the re-opening of the check gates within the territory of the council.
In the letter, Nikhla reiterated that the installation of toll gates on the national highways, state highways and major district roads requires NOC from the designated authority in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and the state government respectively.
She said the requirement should be adhered to particularly in view of the pending cases – Arsteplang Kharbhih versus the state of Meghalaya and the JHADC versus the state of Meghalaya – before the high court on the matter of collection of tolls.
In June 2022, the state government directed the KHADC and the JHADC to immediately shut down all toll gates set up by them on the national highways and state roads.
This decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma with the representatives of the two councils in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong.
