Tension prevailed at the Panthangi and Korlapahad toll plazas on National Highway 65 for a few hours on Sunday morning when vehicle drivers entered into arguments with the toll gate staff after the latter insisted on them paying tolls for passing through the gates.
While the travellers pointed out that the government had waived the toll for Sunday, the toll gate staff countered that they did not receive any orders to that effect. This led to severe arguments, resulting in a long line of vehicles - most of the travellers were travelling to their home towns for Sankranthi.
The Choutuppal police reached the spot by around 10 am and tried to pacify both the agitated travellers and the toll gate staff, who insisted that the collection of toll fees would be stopped only after instructions were received from the National Highways Authority of India.
The police informed their superiors, and after a while the toll gate staff began allowing vehicles to pass through without paying the toll.
It may be mentioned that late Saturday night, the Telangana government had ordered that toll should not be collected on highways on January 13 and again on January 16, the two days when the vehicle rush is expected to be the highest with people leaving Hyderabad to go their home towns to celebrate Sankranti festival and then returning to the city.