Jammu region is all set to be ‘gifted’ with two more Toll Plazas at Lakhanpur and Jammu-Akhnoor road as the process has been put into motion for collecting user fee from the vehicles plying on these roads.

While the Lakhanpur Toll Plaza is likely to become functional in the next two months, the Government may start charging fee for use of the Jammu-Akhnoor road by the end of next year and thus increasing the total number of Toll Plazas in region from four to six. On the other hand, the Union Government seems in no mood to take the BJP J&K Leadership seriously over this issue as they haven't even replied a positive note on letter of BJP J&K Chief Ravinder Raina.

Official sources told local daily that the process for tendering and handing over of the existing infrastructure of the erstwhile Toll Plaza along with the land at Lakhanpur to National Highway Authority (NHAI) is on and the same is likely to be completed by July.

With the handing over of the land by J&K Government to NHAI, the Lakhanpur Toll Plaza will become operational as the Ministry of Road Transport and Highway has already notified the user rate charges for different types of vehicles plying on the road, sources added.

Similarly, sources informed, the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) , which is executing the work for four-laning of Jammu-Akhnoor road, has started the process for acquiring land to establish Toll Plaza at Khati Chowk in Malpur Panchayat.

With the help of Revenue Department, the NHIDCL has identified around 25 kanal land near Lift Irrigation Project and PDD Receiving Station in Malpur Panchayat and the same will be acquired for setting up a Toll Plaza there for collecting user fee from the private as well as commercial vehicles plying on Jammu-Akhnoor road, sources added.

When contacted, NHIDCL Project Director for Jammu-Akhnoor road , Rajendra Mishra confirmed that Toll Plaza infrastructure was being created at Khati Chowk in Malpur even as the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highway has yet to formally notify the same.

“This (Toll Plaza infrastructure) is part of the Jammu-Akhnoor four-laning project and NHIDCL is executing the same while the decision on making it functional has to be taken by the Union Ministry of Road Transport, which has yet to take a call on the same,” he said adding that the proposed Toll Plaza would become operation only after completion of the four-laning project, which is likely to miss the deadline of June 2021.