Dharna against non-operational toll booth on Bathinda road enters day 56

BKU-Dakaunda (Burjgill), led by Buta Singh Burjgill, has been leading this dharna since July 26. On August 3, 2024, they had partially demolished the structure with the help of a JCB machine.

Dharna by BKU Dakaunda(Burjgill) at Ghuman Kalan toll plaza. (Express Photo by Raakhi Jagga)

4 min readSep 21, 2024 11:57 AM IST First published on: Sep 21, 2024 at 08:48 AM IST

The dharna to get the non-operational toll booth on Bathinda-Talwandi Sabo road demolished entered day 57 on Friday.
BKU-Dakaunda (Burjgill), led by Buta Singh Burjgill, has been leading this dharna since July 26. On August 3, 2024, they had partially demolished the structure with the help of a JCB machine.

“This toll booth has been existing for more than 13 years. It came up during the second term of SAD-BJP government. Now it is non-operational. Hence, we want that government must demolish the structures meant for toll collection on both sides of the road. However, they are neither doing it themselves nor allowing us to raze the remaining structure as well. So, we are sitting at the spot by organising an indefinite dharna,” said Burjgill.

Langar is cooked every day at the spot by the members of BKU-Dakaunda (Burjgill).

“We have extended support to them in this cause as the non-operational toll booth causes accidents during night hours as there are no lights on the road,” said Dhana Mal Goyal, president of Medical Representatives’ Association of Punjab.

On Wednesday, the union leaders had a meeting with Bathinda Deputy Commissioner Showkat Ahmad Parray, but talks didn’t yield any results as farmers were adamant on demolishing the structure.

Parray told The Indian Express, “There is a court order directing the state not to demolish the toll booth structure and to protect it till further orders.”

However, Burjgill said, “When partial demolition has been done, what is the point in stopping us? However, we are sitting at a peaceful dharna and will continue to sit till our demands are met.”

Mohinder Singh Bhainibagha, another state leader of BKU-Dakaunda (Burjgill), said, “On December 21, 2023, we had demolished another non-operational toll booth on Bathinda-Mansa road located near Hamirgarh-Dhapai village in Mansa district. Even this one had been in existence for more than 10 years. During agitation against the three farm laws, we had staged dharnas at all the toll plazas and during those dharnas we got to know many things. Therefore, we started an agitation to get these non-operational toll booths demolished.”

In June 2023, the farmer unions had got successful in getting the toll booth shifted a few km away at Pakho Kenchian in Barnala. They argued that people who travel from Jaito in Faridkot and residents of Barnala had to pay toll for the entire stretch on Pakho-Kenchian and being regular commuters, it was pinching them.

On September 19 last year, a private bus had fallen into Sirhind feeder canal on Muktsar- Kotkapura road in Muktsar district due to which eight persons had died and 10 injured. ” There is a toll booth on this road as well. They had been collecting tax for more than three years. However, they hadn’t widened the bridge, though they were supposed to do it. The bus was crossing the narrow bridge on a rainy day and had fallen into canal. Afterwards, we started dharna at that location as well. One year has passed but the bridge hasn’t been widened. However, we haven’t allowed toll booth to do tax collection,” said Burjgill. Meanwhile Rajesh Tripathi,deputy commissioner Muktsar, told that he had called a meeting with the contractor of toll plaza on Tuesday. Tripathi has been transferred recently at this station.

The company which had constructed the toll plaza at Ghuman Kalan had moved court seeking compensation for partial demolition of the structure. The next date of hearing is on January 13.