This story is from February 17, 2021

Chaos, anger at toll plazas on eway & Satara highway

Chaos, anger at toll plazas on eway & Satara highway
Pune: A day after FASTag became mandatory on national highways, chaos, confusion and anger bubbled over at toll places on the Pune-Mumbai expressway and the Pune-Satara highway.
Motorists expressed their displeasure with having to pay double the toll (in case of those who didn’t have FASTags), and faulty scanners. In many cases, FASTags with insufficient balance added to the confusion.

At the Khed-Shivapur toll plaza, a man — car blocking a lane, causing a long queue of vehicles — was seen arguing with toll plaza officials on being asked to pay double toll as he didn’t have FASTag. A few minutes later, he walked back to his vehicle, cursing the officials. “He didn’t have the FASTag and was told to pay double the toll. This angered him and he argued for over 15 minutes. We have seen many people like him since the morning,” an official told TOI.
To avoid such problems, officials have allowed cash payments as a temporary measure. “In two lanes, we have allowed payment by FASTag and cash to avoid problems,” an official said.
Till 11am, many people without FASTags were forced to shell out excessive toll payments. “The rush at many FASTag kiosks put up near the toll plaza shows several people ignored the directive to get FASTags,” a toll booth operator at the Khed-Shivapur plaza remarked.
The crowd at the kiosks selling FASTags increased through the day. “So far, at least 40 people have stopped after paying double toll and got the FASTags. I expect this number to increase in the next few days,” a representative at one kiosk said.

Shyam Khara, en route to Pune without a FASTag, claimed he was unaware about the new rule. “They didn’t believe me when I tried to explain I was unaware. I didn’t argue with them. I am now getting a FASTag and hope I don’t face further trouble,” he said.
At the Talegaon toll plaza on the Pune-Mumbai expressway, many commuters said toll wasn’t deducted from their FASTags due to snags in the scanners. However, some did not have adequate balance.
“We charge such drivers double toll, but they would argue that they would recharge immediately. We would tell them to come back once they recharge and ask for a refund of the excess toll,” Ravi, a toll booth operator, said.
As the day progressed and the number of vehicles increased, operators began carrying hand-held scanners to manually scan FASTags. “These are teething issues. They should be sorted out in a day or two,” an operator said.
Jatin Patel, who was on his way to Mumbai from Kolhapur, said he was unaware about the FASTag mandate and that he would get a FASTag sticker soon. “I had to pay double the toll while crossing toll plazas from Kolhapur. I will get a FASTag in Mumbai,” Patel said.
Those selling FASTags said that they were running out of the RFID tags. “There are so many vehicles without tags. We are activating the cards via mobile phones and using the vehicles’ registration and PAN card to link the card,” Sameer Khole, a FASTag seller, said.
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