Wrongful FASTag Deductions When Vehicle Is Parked at Home
Multiple cases of FASTag account deduction without the car traveling through the toll plaza continue to be reported in many states of India. Watch our video for all the details.
The hassle-free and efficient mode of payment, FASTag has revolutionized the toll system in India. But with time, more & more cases of wrongful deductions or money being deducted from FASTag without even traveling through a toll plaza are surfacing. The most recent cases have come from Bengaluru, where many vehicles have been receiving messages from banks stating that a small amount of money has been deducted from their FASTag account at toll gates despite them not traveling that particular day. One of the people to receive such a message was the marketing manager of a private company, Mr. Arvind PS Tiwari. He said “I usually go to bed by 10 pm and one day, I got a message from my bank stating that ?30 had been paid at Plaza1@km 14825 at 11.35 pm with my vehicle number, which has the ICICI Bank Fastag. My vehicle was at my house in Kempapura that night.” Another individual KN Shivaram Krishna claims that his FASTag account was debited by ?30 and received a message confirming that that Rs 30 was paid at the Bengaluru-Nelamangala toll plaza on December 19 while his vehicle was at his home in Abbigere. He expressed his concern over bigger amounts being deducted and said “Some plazas charge up to Rs 200 for permitting vehicles to pass through. I was worried if bigger amounts could get deducted in future.” Toll in-charge Ajay Singh blamed the wrong deductions on “software issues”. He said when the scanner doesn’t read the vehicle number properly, the toll booth operator manually enters the registration number and they could have mistyped (sic) and told that the new software was being installed. Some cases were reported in Pune as well. Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) civic official, Mr. Suresh Pardeshi lost ?240 through three debits from his FASTag account despite his car being at home and him in his office on 27th October 2023. Therefore, initially he thought that his car had gotten stolen but his family confirmed the vehicle was parked at home. It was later discovered that Mr. Pardeshi had fallen victim to FASTag theft. The reports of growing wrong FASTag deductions & thefts are being discussed on social media as well. On Reddit, a user’s query attracted multiple replies sharing similar experiences. Seeing the rising number of such cases, Chief Operating Officer of Indian Highways Management Company Limited (IHMCL), Mr. Jaiswal Vivek announced the solution for such situations. He reminded that people should immediately call the official helpline number 1033 and/or email to helpline1033@ihmcl.com to report the matter. He also assured that strict actions will be taken against those responsible for theft as well as wrongful deduction and the money will be returned to the right account in just a few days.
