Mangaluru: KPCC vice-president and former MLC Ivan D’Souza on Monday urged Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner Ravi Kumar M R to take immediate steps on implementing the government notification on the toll gate at Surathkal.

Members of like-minded organisations have been staging a protest against the toll plaza in Surathkal for the past 25 days.

Union Minister Nithin Gadkari, state government and elected representatives had promised to vacate the toll. MP Nalin Kumar Kateel had tweeted that the toll at Surathkal was cancelled and had thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Nithin Gadkari for cancelling the toll gate.

A gazette notification on the  merger of Surathkal toll plaza with that of the Hejamadi was also issued on November 11. But the toll collection at Surathkal is continuing, he alleged.

The district administration should clarify whether the toll collection in Surathkal is legal or illegal.  D’Souza warned that the protest will continue if the toll fare in Hejamadi is doubled after the merger of Surathkal toll gate.

D’Souza lashed heavily at the proposal to increase milk price.

Congress will stage a protest if any attempt is made to increase the price, he said.

‘’Previous governments, under former chief ministers Siddaramaiah and H D Kumaraswamy, had announced a support price to farmers engaged in dairy farming. The government should announce a subsidy instead of increasing the price of milk,’’ he said.