Muhammad Abrar, Daily Dawn, Dawn TV Report
Agra: Thousands of vehicles passed through the Agra-Lucknow Expressway without paying toll due to the strike of employees of Fatehabad Toll Plaza.
Toll plaza employees had opened the gates in protest against not getting the Diwali bonus.
In the videos, vehicles were seen crossing the toll plaza without paying anything. This unusual incident is feared to cause a loss of lakhs of rupees to the central government.
This expressway is an important highway in Uttar Pradesh that directly connects Agra and Lucknow, while it is also connected to Delhi and the National Capital Region through the Yamuna Expressway.
An employee said, “I have been working with the company for the past one year, but we have not been given any bonus. We work so hard, yet salaries are not received on time. Now the company is saying that it will replace the staff but will not give the bonus.’
The employees work for the Shri Sai and Datar companies. Some of them claimed that they were assured of depositing the bonus in their bank accounts on the occasion of Diwali last week, but it did not happen.
The angry employees opened the boom barriers of the toll plaza on Sunday night and staged a sit-in. The sit-in continued for about 10 hours and was called off after the assurance of the bonus.
No official statement was issued by the company till the incident was reported.
Leave a Reply