Over 1 lakh motorists were stuck in a massive traffic jam for nearly 33 hours on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway earlier this month after a gas tanker mishap. Days after the incident, the Maharashtra State Road Development Cooperation has reportedly decided a toll refund summing up to ₹5.16 crore for all those who were impacted.
The disruption took place on February 3, after a gas tanker met with an accident on the Khopoli stretch of the Mumbai-Pune expressway, leading to a major 33-hour disruption. Several vehicles came to a standstill with passengers facing a shortage of water, food and basic amenities, HT reported.
Vehicle owners with toll deductions to be refunded
As the disruption continued, authorities ordered an immediate suspension of toll collection; by then, toll charges had already been deducted from accounts of several motorists.
In this context, MSRDC has decided to refund the entire amount collected from vehicle owners even after the order to halt toll collection was issued, a senior MSRDC official told PTI. The official said that the refund of ₹5.16 crore will be processed by the transport corporation.
Also read: Gas leak shutdown lays bare Mumbai-Pune Expressway’s fault lines
The amount will be directly transferred to FASTag accounts of the affected vehicle owners in the next few days, he said. The refunded amount will cover tolls collected on both highways. The toll operator has been asked to furnish detailed FASTag transaction data.
Talking about the reason behind the refund, the official said that some transactions were already processed before instructions came to stop the collection.
“All such transactions are being scrutinised, and the amounts will be returned to the concerned motorists,” the official was quoted as saying.
Also read: High-level panel to probe gas tanker leak incident on Mumbai-Pune Expressway
Why the massive disruption took place
The 95-km Mumbai-Pune Expressway experienced a traffic jam after a tanker carrying highly inflammable propylene gas overturned near the Adoshi tunnel. It took authorities hours to transfer the gas and remove the tanker, restoring traffic on the expressway by early February 5.
Operational since April 2002, the expressway was aimed at cutting the travel time between Mumbai and Pune from five to six hours via the old national highway to nearly three.
