Tamil Nadu will shutdown 5 toll plazas near city

“It is true that crossing the five toll plazas near Chennai takes a longer time and these have been functioning for several years. Chief Minister MK Stalin has directed me to put an end to the issue and so I wrote a letter to the Centre. After the Assembly session ends I will go to Delhi and meet the Minister concerned to urge closure of the five toll plazas,” Velu said in the Assembly. 

The toll plaza issue was brought up in the Assembly by Thiruvaiyaru MLA Durai Chandrasekaran when he said that the public and even MLAs are humiliated when they cross toll plazas as even after showing MLA ID cards the toll plaza staff check the presence of the MLAs in the car. “The government should take steps to abolish the system of toll plazas in the state,” he said. 

No toll on OMR from Aug 30 over Metro work 

The State announced that it would stop collecting toll on OMR from August 30. Replying to the debate on demand for grants for highways department in the Assembly on Friday, Public Works and Highways Minister EV Velu announced that owing to Metro Rail works, collection of toll at Perungudi, Thoraipakkam, Kalaignar Salai and Medavakkam Salai on Rajiv Gandhi Salai would be stopped. The Minister also said that a new flyover connecting Rajiv Gandhi Salai and Sardar Patel Road would be built at Madhaya Kailash junction at Rs 56 crore. A 3.14 km elevated corridor on Mount-Poonamallee-Avadi Road at Ramapuram-Mugalivakkam intersection and a surface bridge at Mount-Medavakkam Road- Inner Ring Road intersection would be built for Rs 403 crore. A km-long vehicular subway at a cost of Rs 200 crore on Madurai Ring Road to facilitate Madurai Airport runway expansion would come up. A 250-km long road with high traffic density would be converted into four-lane facility for Rs 2,000 crore; a 600-km long roads would be made into two-lane roads at Rs 1,200 crore.