FASTag Glitches Trigger Panic as Vehicles Parked in Patna, Mathura Charged at Toll Plazas Hundreds of Kilometres Away

A troubling surge in wrong FASTag deductions has sparked widespread concern across Bihar and neighbouring Jharkhand, with vehicle owners reporting toll charges from locations hundreds of kilometres away—despite their cars being parked at home or undergoing repairs.

The incidents have raised serious questions about the credibility, transparency, and monitoring of India’s FASTag toll collection system, which is operated under the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

Parked in Patna, Charged in Jamshedpur

Patna resident Siddharth Kaushal was left stunned when he received a message on Tuesday evening stating that ₹65 had been deducted at the Putru Toll Plaza near Jamshedpur, even though his vehicle was parked outside his home in Patna.

“I was shocked. My car never travelled on that route. It had been stationary all day,” Kaushal said, calling the incident “deeply disturbing.”

Car in Workshop, Toll Deducted in Gorakhpur

An even more startling case emerged from Ranchi, where civil engineer Prabhakar discovered that ₹130 was deducted at the Tendua Toll Plaza near Gorakhpur while his car was undergoing repairs at a workshop in Mathura on July 29.

Despite lodging a complaint on the NHAI helpline 1033, Prabhakar claims he has not received a refund even after several months, highlighting delays and inefficiencies in grievance redressal.

Allegations of Intentional Misuse

In Rohtas district’s Nokha, vehicle owner Abhay Ranjan suspects deliberate misuse of the system. His car, which has never travelled to Ranchi, was charged ₹75 at the Pundag Toll Plaza.

Ranjan alleged that the deduction occurred shortly after a heated argument with a toll plaza employee at Koilwar. “The staff had threatened to ‘teach me a lesson.’ A week later, the money was deducted,” he said.

How Are These Errors Happening?

While NHAI’s regional office in Patna declined to issue an official statement, internal sources revealed a key vulnerability in the system.

According to a former engineer from the Road Construction Department, certain toll lanes operate in manual mode, primarily for exempted or local vehicles. In such cases, toll staff manually enter vehicle registration numbers.

“A single digit error while entering the number can result in money being deducted from a completely unrelated FASTag account in another city,” the engineer explained on condition of anonymity.

NHAI Admits Errors, Penalises Operators

Contrary to claims by some officials that such errors are “technically impossible,” NHAI’s own internal reports acknowledge the issue.

The authority has imposed a penalty of ₹1 lakh per verified case of wrongful deduction on toll operators. According to an NHAI official, around 250 such penalties were imposed in the first quarter of 2025 alone, leading to a 70% reduction in reported cases.

Data from the Indian Highway Management Company Limited (IHMCL) shows that out of nearly 30 crore FASTag transactions every month, approximately 50 complaints of genuine wrong deductions are received.

Growing Distrust Among Commuters

Despite corrective measures, recurring incidents have eroded public confidence. Vehicle owners argue that the burden of proof often lies unfairly on them, while refunds take months to process.

As FASTag remains mandatory across national highways, experts are calling for tighter audit mechanisms, real-time validation checks, and strict accountability of toll staff to prevent misuse and restore trust in the digital toll system.