New Delhi: The NHAI has terminated the contract of the toll collection agency for Bhumi toll plaza in Meerut where an Army jawan was beaten up by its employees. The highways authority has also blacklisted the contractor and barred it from participating in future bids for one year.Earlier, the NHAI had slapped a Rs 20-lakh interim penalty on M/s Dharam Singh, the toll collecting agency for the Bhuni Toll Plaza on Meerut-Karnal section of NH-709A, a day after a verbal altercation between the army jawan and toll staff led to the former being assaulted. The authority had also issued it a show cause notice.In its reply, the firm admitted that at around 8 pm on Aug 17 a verbal altercation occurred between an army jawan and its toll staff, which “escalated into a physical confrontation”. It claimed, “This initial skirmish was not initiated by our staff, who were adhering to standard protocols for fee collection as per Clause 23(a) of the contract, which mandates efficient user fee collection without undue harassment.”The NHAI said that since the toll collecting agency had admitted to the incident and an FIR had been filed, it did not find the response satisfactory.Amid instances of such altercation between toll plaza employees and commuters, the NHAI is pushing for the rollout of Multi-Lane Free Flow (MLFF), which will eliminate the need for physical toll barriers.Earlier, the highways authority had issued a Standard Operating Procedure for toll operators and user fee collecting agencies, outlining the dos and don’ts.