Farmers affiliated to Tamil Nadu Apolitical Farmers’ Association today appealed to the district administration to take immediate steps to stop collection of fee at the Kaniyur toll gate on the outskirts, as the contractors have not completed the entire project as directed by the National Highways.

The contractors, IVRCL, were given the Chengapalli-Nilambur six lane and four-lane Madukkarai-Valayar project to be completed simultaneously, the association said in a memorandum to District Collector T.N. Hariharan.

“Even before completing the Madukkarai-Valayar project, they started collecting the toll at the newly erected toll gate at Kaniyur, which was illegal,” they claimed.

Moreover, a court has ordered IVRCL to pay Rs. 4.26 lakhs penalty per month to the National Highways for not completing the project on time, which however the company failed to pay till date, the association president, N.A. Ponnusamy alleged.

Seeking steps to prevent the illegal collection till the Madukkarai-Walayar project was compete, Ponnusamy said that IVRCL should be asked to remit the penalty amount running into crores to the Government exchequer.

The association also demanded that farmers be exempted from paying any fee at toll gates and the residents and industrialists in the radius of 20 km from the toll gates also should be exempted from the toll fee.

He reminded the administration that two major agitations were held in this connection in the last 14 months and despite this, it has not taken any steps to protect the right of the farmers and residents.