The travel on the Jammu-Pathankot highway is all set to be costlier as the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will operationalise a new toll collecting point at Sarore (Thandi Khui) in Samba district from October 11th i.e.Friday.

It will be the second toll plaza for lakhs of Vaishno Devi pilgrims, in particular, visiting the holy cave shrine. The visitors also pay toll at Ban Toll Plaza, some 25 km from Jammu city, where the charges for single-side journey for private cars is Rs 135.

“The work on setting up toll plaza in the Thandi Khui area is in full swing. The contractor has approached the authorities (NHAI) seeking the extension in construction time till October 20. We are hopeful of operationalising the toll collection from this date,” Hemraj, general manager, regional office, NHAI, Jammu, told The Tribune.

The general manager said the highway users would have to shell out Rs 65 (one-way journey) at Thandi Khui (in case of private cars) while travelling on the Jammu-Pathankot route.

Over a query regarding another toll plaza at Lakhanpur, the gateway to Jammu and Kashmir, he said the J&K Government was yet to hand it over to the NHAI.

According to official sources, these two toll plazas were supposed to be made operational in 2012 when the four-laning of the Jammu-Pathankot highway was completed. The notification for it was announced in 2016 and since then, the NHAI had been approaching the state government for giving its nod to start toll plazas.

Meanwhile, the setting up of toll collecting centre at Sarore has triggered discontent among local populace and political class, who described it as “the move fraught with dangerous ramifications”.

Locals in the Sarore area, led by BJP leaders, on May 6, 2014, had damaged the toll plaza at Sarore and warned of serious consequences if the authorities set up any toll collection centre there. This time, however, the BJP has turned a “silent spectator” to the situation.