The Kerala High Court on Monday refused to lift the interim stay it had imposed on the collection of toll at the Paliyekkara toll plaza on the National Highway-544, due to poor road conditions and traffic congestion. A Division Bench of Justices A Muhamed Mustaque and Harisankar V Menon had stated last week that it would pass an order today lifting its earlier interim order halting toll collection.
However, the Bench today decided to hold off on pronouncing the order after reports surfaced on the collapse of a service road near Muringoor. The Court asked the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to submit a report on the same, after which it will take a call on restarting the toll collection at Paliyekkara.
The Court had suspended toll collection on August 6 after several petitions were filed highlighting the poor road conditions and severe traffic congestion caused by ongoing overbridge works at various places on the NH 544, along the Edappally–Mannuthy stretch. On September 19, the Court had orally said that it would allow resumption of toll collection at Paliyekkara subject to certain conditions.
This remark was made after reviewing the report submitted by the Interim Traffic Management Committee on the work undertaken by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on NH-544 to address the traffic and poor road conditions.
The Thrissur District Collector Arjun Pandian, chairman of the committee, told the Court last week that the NHAI has substantially complied with specific points flagged by the Court as well as the issues raised by the petitioner with respect to the road and traffic at Paliyekkara.
However, the committee also stated that the pace of underpass construction remained considerably slow and that only expeditious completion by NHAI would provide a lasting solution to congestion. When the matter was taken up today, the Court said that it would hold off on the decision to resume tolling till it reviews the work on the fresh road collapse.
