In a late-night operation on Saturday, Mangaluru city police said they reached the houses of over 100 activists protesting against the toll plaza in Mangaluru and served them notice in a bid to thwart the October 18 siege announced by them at the toll gate.
The activists have been slapped with notices asking them to furnish a bond for Rs 2 lakh along with a government bail and also to report themselves at the city police commissioner’s office on Monday.
Notices have been served also to women activists protesting against the toll gate and they include Congress leader Prathibha Kulai.
The Surathkal toll gate Virodhi Samithi (anti-toll gate action committee) had announced a siege of the plaza on October 18 as the final stage of their protest against alleged illegal toll collection by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).
Also read | Karnataka: Nine Killed In Accident After Tempo Traveller Collides With Milk Van In Hassan
The Samithi had given the October 18 deadline to the authorities to remove the toll gate, which is only less than 10 km away from Hejamadi toll gate on the Mangaluru-Udupi route. National Highway rules stipulate that there should not be two toll plazas within a distance of 60 km.
The Dakshina Kannada district administration had requested the Samithi to withdraw their agitation. However, the protesters, who said the toll was being collected at the plaza by flouting norms for the last six years, rejected the plea.
They said the authorities had backed out from several promises made earlier to merge the two toll gates at Hejamadi and Surathkal. All political parties, except the ruling BJP, have come out in support of the protesters.
DYFI Karnataka president Muneer Katipalla, one of the key leaders of the agitation, said in the social media that the protesters would not be intimidated by the police and would not withdraw the planned protest.