A propylene gas tanker overturned near Khopoli on Mumbai-Pune Expressway on February 3, triggering a traffic gridlock for over 32 hours, leaving thousands of vehicles stranded with little access to food, water, or other basic necessities. (File photo)
Around 1.2 lakh commuters who were stuck in the massive traffic jam on the Pune-Mumbai Expressway on February 3 are set to receive toll refunds totalling Rs 5.16 crore, a Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) officer said.
The refunds will be credited directly to commuters’ FASTag accounts within the coming week.
The chaos on the expressway began after a propylene gas tanker accident near Khopoli triggered a traffic gridlock for over 32 hours, leaving thousands of vehicles stranded with little access to food, water, or other basic necessities.
Despite orders being issued by MSRDC to halt toll collection following the mishap, it is learned that some toll deductions continued until the barriers were physically opened. The refunds will cover tolls collected on both the Pune-Mumbai Expressway and the Pune-Bengaluru highway during this period.
“We have the data of commuters from whom toll was deducted even after the suspension order was issued. Their money will be returned to their FASTag accounts in the coming week,” an MSRDC officer said.
MSRDC has already sought detailed transaction data from IRB Infrastructure Private Ltd, which manages the operations, maintenance, and toll collection of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, to identify each commuter who was charged after the halt order was issued.
IRB has also been asked to explain why toll collection did not stop immediately after it was instructed to do so.
“There may have been transactions where FASTag amounts were deducted before the barriers were opened. We needed the exact numbers. Those commuters will be fully refunded,” the officer added.
MSRDC had last week assured affected commuters that the toll money collected during the disruption on the Mumbai stretch would be returned. This announcement follows through on that assurance.
Activist Vijay Kumbhar welcomed the refund move but said it was far from enough. “Giving toll refunds is no big deal; they collected money without providing any service. Commuters were left stranded with no help, no diversion, and no immediate relief. That itself is gross negligence. What matters more is that disciplinary action must be taken against those who defied MSRDC’s orders and those who failed in their duties. The government must also come clean on who was responsible for this chaos. Filing an FIR only against the truck driver simply does not suffice,” he told The Indian Express.
The February 3 incident drew criticism from commuters, political leaders, and citizen groups, with many questioning why people stranded in an emergency were still being charged toll.
The Pune-Mumbai Expressway Forum, a group of concerned citizens and regular expressway users, has also raised a detailed set of accountability demands with the authorities. The Forum sought to determine whether mandatory annual road safety audits under the Maharashtra BOT Toll Policy 2014 were conducted and whether their compliance reports are available for public scrutiny.
It has also questioned whether the concessionaire met its obligations on emergency preparedness and incident clearance, and whether the Incident Command System and Emergency SOP, including a golden-hour response protocol, were formally activated during the crisis.
The Forum has further sought details on the deployment and actual response times of Quick Response Vehicles. It has also demanded that the tanker’s technical records, including fitness certificates, hazardous cargo clearances, and maintenance history, be included in the official investigation.
Curated by Shiv Shakti Mishra
