Vehicles with invalid or non-functional FASTag to be charged double toll fee: Government

Dharshana Kathiresan, INN/Chennai, @Infodeaofficial

According to the press release from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, vehicles with invalid or non-functional FASTag will be charged twice the toll fee amount. Earlier, the user of the vehicle had to pay twice on the fee plaza only if the vehicle didn’t carry the FASTag and entered in the separate lane for tag.

“User of the vehicle not fitted with FASTag or vehicle without valid or functional ‘FASTag’ entering into ‘FASTag lane’ of the fee plazas shall pay a fee equivalent to two times of the fee applicable to that category of vehicles,” noted the press release.

FASTag uses Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for making toll payments on national highways directly from the prepaid or bank account linked to it. A prepaid tag fixed on the windscreen of the vehicles, allows the automated deduction of toll fee and lets any vehicle pass through a toll plaza without the necessity of stopping there. A total of 1.68 crore FASTags have been supplied across the country till the beginning of May 2020.

The government had made FASTags mandatory from December 15, 2019. It can be purchased from Point-of-Sale locations set up by various banks and IHMCL/NHAI which includes all NH fee plazas, RTOs, selected petrol pumps, etc. They are also available on e-commerce platforms such as Amazon.