‘FASTag Fee Collection Reaches INR 80 Crore per Day’: NHAI

Electronic toll collection through FASTags has crossed Rs 80 crore a day with record 50 lakh transactions per day and more than 2.20 crore FASTags issued so far, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) said on Friday. Centre has made FASTags mandatory for all vehicles from January 1, 2021.

“With FASTag being mandatory for vehicles from 1st January 2021, the NHAI has made all necessary arrangements to provide seamless movement of vehicles at Fee Plazas. Adoption of FASTag has helped highway users save time and fuel at the toll plazas. The digital transaction has got necessary push through the recent amendment in Central Motor Vehicle Rules,” the NHAI said.

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FASTag, a radio frequency identification (RFID) sticker, typically fixed to a vehicle’s windscreen, lets toll booths wirelessly and automatically deduct the fee, thereby not requiring a vehicle to stop. The tags were made mandatory for all new cars sold after December 1, 2017, as a measure to encourage digital payments and free up congestion at toll booths.

In a move aimed to give a major fillip to enhance digital payments and reduce bottlenecks at national highways, the Centre had mandated that all lanes of national highways toll plazas to be declared as “FASTag lanes” by December 2019.

“As social distancing has become the new norm, commuters are increasingly looking at FASTag as a toll payment option as it nullifies the chances of any human contact between the drivers and the toll operators. Being an inclusive technological tool for toll collection on highways, FASTag is a more practical and beneficial option,” the NHAI said.

Source: HT