NEW DELHI: Have you ever received a toll deduction message from your FASTag wallet even though your car was parked or you hadn’t passed through a toll plaza? Officials explain that this can occur when toll operators mistakenly enter the vehicle number, often due to issues with the FASTag being unreadable for various reasons, or when people carry tags in their wallets.
Cracking down on such instances of “false” deductions from FASTag wallet, the NHAI has penalised toll collectors in at least 250 cases. For each violation, the highways authority’s toll management entity, IHMCL, has started imposing a fine of Rs 1 lakh.
Due to this high penalty, the number of such cases has reduced by almost 70% and now 50 such genuine complaints reach IHMCL in a month while nearly 30 crore FASTag transactions happen at all plazas on the national highway network.
Many users have taken to social media to highlight instances of false toll deductions from their FASTag wallets, in addition to lodging complaints with IHMCL. “Customers facing false deductions can file a complaint by calling 1033 or emailing falsededuction@ihmcl.com and each case is thoroughly investigated. And if the complaint of such deduction or incorrect manual transactions is established, chargebacks are issued to the customer immediately. Additionally, a Rs 1 lakh penalty is imposed on the toll operator responsible,” said a senior IHMCL official.
He said, the main reason for such false deductions is entry of incorrect vehicle numbers by toll operators while processing electronic transactions manually.