Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Adil Karaismailoğlu announced that the security fee paid for Automatic Transit System (OGS) devices, one of the toll payment systems used in highway and bridge crossings, will not be returned to device owners. Approximately 1 million 200 thousand citizens had been waiting for this news for two months.
Paid $40 per device
According to the news of Eray Görgülü from DW Turkish, The General Directorate of Highways announced in February that the new application will be implemented as of March 31, and that OGS will be abolished in highway and bridge crossings within the scope of the application, and that only the Rapid Transition System (HGS) will be used from now on. After this statement, eyes were turned to whether the money paid by the citizens who bought the device in return for a certain deposit (security fee) to use OGS would be refunded. Citizens who bought their devices through Ziraat Bank, Vakıfbank, İşbank, Denizbank and Garanti BBVA paid a fee of around 40 dollars per device. After the new decision, the citizens who applied to the banks for the refund of the device price, were told "The device price is not the deposit you pay". Ministry officials, who made a statement on the reactions, said, “The device price can also be refunded, it can also be used as a balance in the HGS account. But without delay, our citizens will be informed about this situation,” he said.
Device cost and price difference will not be refunded
CHP Adana Deputy Burhanettin Bulut also brought the issue of OGS device price to the agenda of the Parliament. Presenting a written question to Minister Adil Karaismailoğlu's request, Bulut asked whether the said fee would be refunded. Answering the proposal, Karaismailoğlu said, "As the HGS label will be given free of charge instead of the OGS device, the price difference between the device price paid when purchasing the OGS device and the OGS-HGS products will not be refunded." Karaismailoğlu stated that the deposit received during account opening will be returned. Regarding the remaining balance in the OGS accounts, Karaismailoğlu stated that the OGS passes of the dates before the cancellation date of the OGS device will be refunded after the balance in the account is collected.
“They play word games not to pay”
Pointing out that the deposit received at the time of account opening was a very low amount, Bulut said that the actual money to be returned was the device deposit of 40 dollars. Noting that 1.2 million citizens were victims in this way, Bulut noted that the total unpaid amount exceeded 700 million TL. Bulut said, “1 million 200 thousand people will not be able to get back the deposit fee they have paid. By not refunding the difference between OGS and HGS products, they blatantly screwed the citizen. They have now started word games to put money on it," he said. Noting that the price for the OGS device has been collected under the name of "deposit fee" for years, Bulut said, "Now, in the answer given to us, the name of the deposit has been the device fee. In this way, they allow banks to collapse into citizens' money,” he said. Bulut also said, "The government, which took a stance on the side of banks, not citizens, has victimized hundreds of thousands of citizens."
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