Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has announced a toll refund totalling Rs 5.16 crore to over one lakh motorists who found themselves stranded for 33 hours on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway earlier this month after a gas tanker overturned.
The incident took place on Feb. 3 after the gas tanker overturned on the Khopoli section of the Expressway, resulting in a massive jam spanning several kilometres. Commuters faced a harrowing time due to shortage of water, food, and toilet facilities.
In the aftermath of the accident, authorities mandated an immediate halt to toll collection. Nonetheless, by that time, the toll had already been deducted from the FASTag accounts of numerous motorists.
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“It has been decided to refund the entire amount collected from vehicle owners. The refund of Rs 5.16 crore will be processed by MSRDC. The amount will be directly credited to FASTag accounts of affected vehicle owners in the next few days,” a high-ranking MSRDC official told news agency PTI. The refund will cover toll collected on both highways and the toll operator has been asked to furnish detailed FASTag transaction data, he said.
“Some transactions may have been automatically processed before the toll plaza barriers were fully opened despite instructions to stop collection. All such transactions are being scrutinised and the amounts will be returned to the motorists,” the official said.
Following the incident, state Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis ordered a thorough investigation into emergency response strategies. A seven-member panel has been instituted to examine operational shortcomings and formulate an emergency traffic management framework. The state is also expediting completion of the 13.3-km ‘Missing Link’ bypass project, featuring two tunnels and Asia’s tallest cable-stayed bridge, now aimed for opening on May 1, to avert future traffic jams in the accident-prone Lonavala ghat area.
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