Likes galore for ‘double’ eway toll after 30min Lonavla halt video

MUMBAI: A video questioning why the maximum one-time toll on the Mumbai-Pune expressway was deducted twice from Fastag during one journey by Marathi actor Rujuta Deshmukh has gained traction.

Travelling to Pune from here on July 31, she had taken a half-an-hour refreshments break at Lonavala, Deshmukh said in the video posted on Instagram. At Khalapur, Rs 240 toll had been deducted. After crossing the Talegaon toll post near Pune, the message to her husband’s Fastag account showed deduction of another Rs 240, instead of Rs 80 (total one-way toll is Rs 320).

Officials explained once a vehicle goes past the toll post at Lonavala, the journey is counted as ending there. The continued journey is counted as another one and so, a fresh toll.

This is illogical, no government order explains such toll deduction, said Deshmukh, demanding that all “extra” toll collected should be returned.

“We can understand if any motorist is halting at Lonavala for a day or two, but for half an hour’s refreshment, double toll looks excessive,” said Ananya Raje, a frequent traveller of the expressway.

“Looking at fresh complaints, we will verify whether the (toll) collection is happening according to the set norms,” said MSRDC joint MD Sanjay Yadav. He explained the periodic calculations based on which the tolls are charged and renewed every three years were last made in 2004.

Aniruddha Mukadam, a bank official, said the Mumbai-Nagpur super expressway has the ideal toll system: the entry point registers a vehicle, and actual toll is deducted based on the journey at the exit toll post. “If this is the national norm, why is the same agency that runs the Pune expressway exercising double standards?” he asked.

Deshmukh said when she contacted officials of IRB, the toll agent, they gave her a chart that did not explain the reason and a logic behind the double charge.

An IRB MP Expressway Pvt Ltd spokesperson said: “It needs to be appreciated that the Mumbai Pune Expressway is an access-controlled expressway project and hence the toll is charged for every trip as per the fee notification, depending on entry and exit points. Any exit from the corridor and re-entry is a new trip and accordingly, toll is collected as per the notification. In view of this, there is no double/excess charge.”