To avoid toll tax, truck driver mows down man at Murthal

NEWLY BUILT MURTHAL TOLL PLAZA HAS BEEN FUNCTIONING WITHOUT GATEPOSTS AND WORKERS MANUALLY STOP THE VEHICLES BY STANDING IN FRONT OF THEM

ROHTAK :A truck driver trying to get away without paying toll on national highway 1 (Delhi-Chandigarh) in Murthal mowed down the plaza worker who tried to stop him, police said on Sunday.

The deceased has been identified as Ravinder Singh, 26, a resident of Sersa village, who had recently joined the toll plaza.

The newly built Murthal toll plaza, as highlighted by the Hindustan Times in one of its previous reports, has been functioning without gateposts and requires workers to manually stop the vehicles by standing in front of them.

The police said the incident occurred around 4am on Sunday when Ravinder, along with many others, was on duty at the toll plaza.

Ravinder stood in front one of the lanes to stop the vehicles to ensure they pay tax and leave.

“However, a speeding truck did not stop at a gate and mowed him down in his bid to escape without paying tax,” Murthal station house officer (SHO) Phool Kanwar said.

Ravinder was rushed to hospital by other workers, but succumbed to his injuries during treatment.

The other workers present at the spot said they could not read the truck’s registration number due to darkness.

The police have booked the unidentified truck driver under Sections 279 (rash driving) and 304 A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

He has not been arrested so far.

HT had, in its report published in November last year, had highlighted how the toll plaza began functioning without following proper security guidelines.

Member of Parliament (MP) from Sonepat, Ramesh Kaushik, had last year even announced that he would ensure the closure of the toll plaza soon, but even after five months, it continues to function with same defects.

The Murthal plaza, fourth in between Delhi and Chandigarh, charges ₹65 and ₹415 for one-way journey to cars and heavy vehicles, respectively.

Similarly, Rohtak Congress MP Deepender Hooda had also led protests against the toll plaza and said it was set up in violation of norms laid by the government.

He had mentioned rules that stated two toll plazas must be distanced 60km from each other, but said the government had set up three toll plazas within the same distance in Sonepat, Panipat and Karnal.

He had further said that the toll plaza was violating another rule as it had started functioning while the work on eight-laning of the national highway was going on.