NAGPUR, Dec. 11 -- The state government has assured that owners of electric vehicles (EVs) who were charged toll after May 23 on three expressways -- Atal Setu, Samruddhi Expressway and Mumbai-Pune Expressway - will be eligible for refunds, on producing proof of payments. Additionally, requisite changes will be made in the digital system in the next eight days so that automatic deduction of toll from EVs through FASTag is aborted. The move came on Wednesday, at the state legislature in Nagpur, after MLAs protested the imposition of the toll on EVs on the three expressways despite an exemption announced by the government on May 23. MLAs Anil Patil (NCP), Varun Sardesai (Shiv Sena-UBT) and Rahul Kul (BJP) raised the issue during question hour and demanded action against toll contractors for charging toll on the EVs despite the exemption. Admitting the government's failure to implement its own mandate, minister of school education Dada Bhuse said the EVs were being charged as the changes in the digital system took time. "It is imperative to integrate FASTag with the National Informatics Centre to avail of the exemption on these three expressways. It took three months to integrate the two systems which was completed only on August 22. The EVs started getting exemptions on these expressways from August," said Bhuse. The MLAs however refuted Bhuse's claim, with Sardesai producing two toll receipts he had paid for his EV in October. Subsequently, speaker Rahul Narwekar intervened and directed the state government to ensure that the system is set right in eight days. "The toll exemption was announced adhering to the EV Policy to push the use of electric vehicles. The government's inability to extend the benefit can be deemed illegal as also a failure. It should also refund the toll collected from EV owners on producing the proof of the payment," he said. He also asked the government to increase charging stations and upgrade them with a high watt charging system. He said the chargers should be upgraded to 120 watts from the existing 30 watts, so that changing time could be reduced to 20 minutes from existing eight hours. Bhuse assured that the speaker's directives will be implemented....