FASTag compulsory for payments at toll plazas from December 1
FASTag made mandatory for vehicles passing through toll plazas on national highways from December 1
National highways in the country have, no doubt, made long distance drives easy, fast and enjoyable. But the long wait due to traffic blocks at toll plazas for remitting fee for using the highways kills the joy of a hassle-free journey. Often the payment points do not have enough changes to pay back the balance payments to the driver, forcing him to forget the amount. At the end of the journey, he might have made the plaza employees rich handsomely.
To address these problems the government has introduced FAStags on all vehicles passing through toll plazas which enabled the payments digital and also without stopping the vehicles at the toll booths.
FASTags on vehicles using highways will be compulsory from December 1st. When it becomes mandatory, long distance journeys literally become less tiring and financially beneficial to the drivers. It also saves them from unnecessary arguments over balance payments with the toll plaza employees.
A FASTag is a sticker equipped with a chip and an antenna, fixed on the vehicle’s window screen that enables automatic collection of toll charges when the vehicle passes through the toll plazas, without stopping at the booths.
The FASTag uses radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology to recognize the vehicle passing through the toll plaza, type of the vehicle and the status of the tag to fix the charges.
It is also connected to the owner’s bank account as per the information furnished by him, which enables automatic deduction of the payment.
FASTag payment facility is available at present at 450 toll plazas across the national and state highways in the country. More payment booths will be added to it soon.
A list of FASTag payment-facility toll plazas is available on the National Payment Corporation of India’s website: npci.org.in/netc.
A 2.5 per cent cash back scheme on FASTag payments is also available until March 31, 2020.
All lanes, except one each on both sides for vehicles without FAStag stickers, are marked for FASTag payment facility. If a vehicle without a FASTag enters this lane has to make double toll charges.
FASTags are issued by select banks and some other authorized institutions. A list of the banks and other institutions which issue FASTag is available on the NPCI website.
Charges for a FASTag vary depending on the issuing agent. The documents required for a FASTag includes registratio5n certificate of the vehicle, passport size photograph of the owner and KYC documents.
The FASTag is vehicle specific and cannot be transferred. If you sell the vehicle, you have to cancel your FASTag account and the new owner has to get another FASTag for the vehicle in his name.
For more information , please visit National Payment Corporation of India’s website: npci.org.in/netc