After an unsuccessful court fight against three oil marketing companies which charged higher rate from bulk purchasers of diesel as compared to retail prices of the fuel, the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has now locked horns with the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and Guruvayur Infrastructure Private Limited (GIPL), a joint venture company responsible for toll collection and road maintenance on the Mannuthy-Edappally stretch of the National Highway 544, over a dispute on collecting toll.
In a communication sent to the government by the NHAI, it was informed that KSRTC buses were not maintaining sufficient balance in FASTag wallets resulting in FASTags getting blacklisted and leading to concessionaires charging double payment as per the ‘NH Fee Rules’. Till February 2022, an amount of ₹106.36 crore had been claimed by the concessionaire against the NHAI in this regard and the KSRTC had paid only ₹3.05 crore to the concessionaires, the letter said.
The government was also requested to issue necessary directions to the KSRTC for maintaining sufficient balance in the FASTag wallets to avoid charging of double payments by the concessionaire. Speaking to The Hindu, KSRTC Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Biju Prabhakar said the KSRTC was planning to approach court against GIPL for making fraudulent claims with a view to siphoning off public money. The company has not provided any data to substantiate their claims.
“As per our estimate, the KSRTC has an arrears of only ₹31 crore, for which it has placed a request before the Finance department. A detailed inspection by the KSRTC found that the toll company has been charging double for even a second trip in 24 hours. In fact, a bus needs to be charged only 50% of the toll during its second trip in 24 hours. Similarly, for buses originating from Puthukad depot which comes within the radius of 10 km of toll plaza, the company has charged ₹28,000 as toll in a month, whereas the buses are allowed to run on a monthly pass of ₹525 as per the NH Fee Rules,” said Mr. Prabhakar adding that only a court case could solve the issue.
As per the NH Fee Rules 2008, any vehicle not fitted with FASTag or vehicle without functional FASTag shall pay a fee equal to two times of the fee applicable to that category.
