‘Congress Govt. levied toll on Mysuru-Ooty Highway without service roads; let them clarify why’

Mysore/Mysuru: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Mysuru-Bengaluru 10-lane Access-Controlled Expressway on Mar. 12, said Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha here yesterday.

Even Union Minister Pralhad Joshi tweeted in this regard and a preliminary meeting regarding Modi’s visit to Karnataka on  Mar. 12 was held at the BJP office in Bengaluru yesterday.

The Expressway is expected to reduce the travel time between the two cities to just 90 minutes and also act as a catalyst for investment and industrial development in the region. The 118-km Expressway was built at a cost of Rs. 8,408 crore in two packages. It starts from the NICE entrance in Bengaluru and ends at Ring Road junction in Mysuru.

A public meeting has been organised at Gejjalagere near Mandya on Mar. 12 to mark the inauguration and if the Special Protection Group (responsible for the PM’s security) permits, a two-kilometre roadshow will also be organised, the MP said.

“We have sought permission from the SPG to organise a roadshow by the PM and the SPG has to decide,” he said.

Regarding the Congress party’s demand for the completion of the service roads before levying toll on the Expressway, the MP said that the completion of the service roads had been delayed on account of a litigation pending in the court.

“The Congress party must not forget that when they were in power, the Mysuru-Ooty Highway was opened without a single service road and toll was collected. Now, these people are questioning a few incomplete service roads on the Expressway that has been delayed due to legal tangles. When Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa was the PWD Minister, why toll was levied on the Mysuru-Ooty Highway without service roads? Let Mahadevappa clarify,” the MP said and lashed out at the double standards of the Congress.

“Efforts are on to vacate the stay and complete the pending work on the service roads. This is the reason why the proposed toll collection from Bengaluru to Nidaghatta has been postponed to Mar. 14,” he clarified.