Visakhapatnam: Despite promises by the authorities over six months ago that they will relocate the toll plaza at Aganampudi, there is no progress on the proposal as yet.Earlier, residents of Aganampudi had protested and held dharnas against the toll plaza owned by National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) on National Highway-16. Following the protests, the NHAI had decided to relocate the plaza from Aganampudi to Lankelapalem more than six months ago.However, when TOI inquired about the status of the toll plaza on Monday, locals, NHAI officials as well as elected representatives said there is no progress on the proposal. Sources claimed the personal interests of some politicians getting harmed was the reason behind NHAI authorities not going ahead with the plan."We had proposed to shift the toll plaza from Aganampudi to Lankelapalem. But we are not able to move forward on it due to the ire of the people of Lankelapalem. The proposal is still hanging fire due to the opposition from the people in both the places," said A Srinivasa Rao, director for the NHAI project implementation unit in Visakhapatnam.When contacted, Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy, TDP MLA for Pendurthy assembly constituency where Lankelapalem is situated, said the residents of two villages were not interested in the toll plaza."Upon peoples' request, I asked the authorities concerned including NHAI not to shift the toll plaza to Lankelapalem from Aganampudi. At the same time, I also showed a suitable site at Salapuvanipalem, nearly 2 kms away from Lankelapalem towards Anakapalle from Vizag for the plaza. There is no objection from our side for Salapuvanipalem, but the NHAI authorities are not setting up the plaza there," Satyanarayana Murthy told TOI.Meanwhile, the delay has enraged the residents of Aganampudi as well.J Kalyan, resident of Aganampudi, said nearly Rs 9 crore is being paid by the Aganampudi residents as toll plaza charges per month. The APSRTC is also charging extra on the bus fares for commuting in the city due to the toll tariff."The authorities should either remove the toll gate at Aganampudi or lift the charges on local RTC buses. The Aganampudi population is increasing daily. If a family of four people travels to work and school to the Steel Plant and Gajuwaka area, they are forced to spend a toll tax of Rs 24 for two-way travel a day. This adds up to Rs 720 per month. If the total population of Aganampudi is close to 2.5 lakh and 50% of residents travel by bus, the total amount paid by the residents as toll plaza charges is Rs 9 crore per month," Kalyan explained.Nearly 1,000 four wheelers and more than 400 APSRTC buses daily cross the plaza. When constructed before 2005, the toll plaza was outside the purview of the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation, but now it has come under the corporation limits.Nearly 1,000 four wheelers and more than 400 APSRTC buses daily cross the plaza

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