Did you know that you don’t need to pay any toll fee if the FASTag reading machine is faulty? While double whammy looms large on vehicles without FASTag if they pass through no-cash lanes, there’s some respite too.
Highlights:
- NHAI has kept 75% lanes exclusively for vehicles with FASTag on national highways
- FASTag is set to become mandatory for all motorists using the national highways from 15 January
If FastTag reading machine is non-functional, users will be allowed to pass the toll without having to pay any fee and a zero transaction receipt will be issued mandatorily for all such transactions.
According to the national highways fee rules, “Provided also that if a vehicle user with a valid, functional FASTag or any such device with sufficient balance in the linked account crossing a fee plaza installed with Electronic Toll Collection infrastructure, is not able to pay user fee through FASTag or any such device owing to malfunctioning of Electronic Toll Collection infrastructure, the vehicle user shall be permitted to pass the fee plaza without payment of any user fee.”
FASTag is an electronic toll connection device, in the form of a sticker pasted on the windscreen of the vehicle, to enable drivers to drive through toll plazas without having to stop.
As government paves the way to boost electronic toll collection and ease traffic congestion on the highways, FASTag is set to become mandatory for all motorists using the national highways from 15 January.
NHAI has kept 75% lanes exclusively for vehicles with FASTag on national highways and up to 25% lanes have been kept for those with FASTag and without considering the convenience of commuters.
There is also a provision under the rule according to which non-FASTag users are to be charged double the fee if they pass through FASTag lanes.
According to National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the pan-India rollout of electronic toll collection on national highways on 1 December had resulted in the issuance of 1.1 crore FASTags till 24 December.
