The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday directed the state of Punjab to submit a status and action taken report on the claim made by the National Highway Authority of India(NHAI) that has said that it had been losing around Rs 1.33 crore on an average daily owing to an ongoing dharna by farmer unions at 13 toll plazas. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) Tuesday moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking the resumption of the operations of 13 toll plazas that have allegedly been taken over by certain protesters in Punjab. The NHAI claimed that it is losing Rs 1.33 crore every day as protesters are not allowing it collect the toll charges. During the resumed hearing on Thursday, the counsel for NHAI, Senior Advocate Chetan Mittal, pointed out that since the filing of their petition two-days ago (Tuesday), nothing has been done by officials of Punjab. Mittal further pointed out that no proposed action had been informed in relation to the 13 toll plazas where the toll collection was not being permitted by the protesters. AT one toll plaza, Mittal said, the protesters were in fact collecting the toll themselves. The Bench of Justice Vinod Bhardwaj, after hearing the plea, issued a notice to Punjab and also fixed the case for further hearing on February 16. A detailed order in the matter is yet to be released by the HC. Meanwhile, it was made clear during the hearing that the terms of the “State Support Agreement” between the state and the Central government on to the obligation to provide security to all the 34 toll plazas established by the NHAI was required to be complied with. The NHAI in its petition on Tuesday had submitted, “The situation is so grave that there is no maintenance of law and order and the staff and the property of the toll plaza have been vandalized in as much as the toll plazas have been completely occupied by the protesters. The protesters have been preventing the collection of toll fees, which has resulted in a significant loss of revenue to the Central Government exchequer. "
