On Tuesday, Morena district collector Ankit Asthana was going from Gwalior to Morena, however, at the Choundha toll plaza near Morena there was a traffic jam. DC Asthana’s vehicle was also stuck in the jam causing a ten-fifteen minute delay. Reportedly, this did not go well with the officer and he called Morena SP Shailendra Singh.
Subsequently, SP Singh deployed a team of officials from the Civil Lines Police Station and got the toll plaza manager Samarth Garg and five other workers arrested. The arrested toll plaza workers were booked for “disrupting peace”. On Wednesday, the arrested persons were produced before the SDM’s court where they were released on bail.
Speaking to AajTak, Choundha toll plaza manager Samarth Garg said that as there was a long queue of vehicles on Tuesday night, DC Asthana was stuck in a traffic jam for nearly ten minutes as there is no separate lane for VIPs and government officers. Due to this, Garg added that Asthana called the police and got him and other toll tax barrier staffers arrested.
Meanwhile, Civil Lines police station TI Veeresh Kushwaha said that DC Asthana had called the police when toll plaza staffers and a truck driver were having an argument over toll tax.
Speaking to The Lallantop, Morena DC Ankit Asthana said that on Tuesday night, he was heading back to Morena when he came across the toll plaza in question adding that it comes under his municipal limits. DC Asthana said that over the last seven to eight months there were a lot of complaints about traffic jams at the Choundha toll plaza.
“We were reviewing that despite the FASTag system the lanes were not getting cleared so that we could regulate the movement of ambulances and small vehicles,” the Morena DC said adding that most referral cases in Morena are sent to Gwalior Medical College.
Ankit Asthana also said that on the night of the incident, several vehicles were stuck in the jam for over forty minutes despite paying the toll fee. This, according to the Morena DC, prompted him to call the police.
