Residents of Ghazikot, traders and other community members launched a hunger strike on Wednesday against toll collection at Khatain Da Galla on the Karakoram Highway, demanding that the toll point at the Mansehra-Abbottabad boundary be shut down.
The protesters said the district administration had allowed the collection point after commitments to widen the Karakoram Highway and construct underpasses and overhead bridges in Mansehra city and its surrounding areas. Malik Waheed said authorities had yet to carry out the promised work.
Waheed said the National Highway Authority (NHA) had submitted a surety bond to the Peshawar High Court’s Abbottabad circuit bench, undertaking to spend the toll revenue on widening the KKH and constructing the promised underpasses and overhead bridges.
He also claimed that the NHA collects toll tax at around six points within a five-kilometer radius along the Karakoram Highway and Hazara Expressway.
The protesters said the toll creates an additional burden for people who travel between Abbottabad and Mansehra every day. Waheed said students and government employees among other regular commuters pay Rs. 200 per trip.
He further said three groups had claimed the contract for the toll collection point and alleged that one of the groups stormed the facility and opened fire in an attempt to take possession of it.
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