Passengers of five State Express Transport Corporation (SETC) buses, who were travelling to Nagercoil from Chennai, had to wait at the Kayathar toll plaza for a while in the early hours of Friday as SETC had failed to recharge the FASTag.
When a SETC bus, attached to the Nagercoil depot, reached the Kayathar toll plaza at 4 a.m. on Friday, the bus was stopped by the personnel there as the SETC administration had failed to recharge the toll for the bus in FASTag, the National Highways Authority of India’s electronic toll collection system.
As the bus crew contacted the depot officials immediately in a bid to resolve the crisis to ensure hassle-free travel of the passengers, they were informed that the online payment towards the toll for the bus could be made only after Depot Manager came to the office after 10 a.m.
Meanwhile, four more buses, also attached to the Nagercoil depot, reached the Kayathar toll plaza within next 20 minutes only to be stopped there for non-payment of toll.
Subsequently, the stranded passengers were sent to Nagercoil in other buses even as the detained passenger vehicles were parked there.
Only after online recharge of the toll was made after 10 a.m., the buses were allowed to cross the point after 5-hour-long detention.
