FASTag in India is mandatory from December 1.
FASTag in India: FASTag is a revolutionary pre-paid tag facility for vehicles that uses technology to eliminate bottlenecks on toll plazas across India. The re-loadable tag uses Radio-Frequency Identification or RFID technology and enables automatic deduction of toll charges. It also lets the vehicle owners pass through the toll plaza without stopping for any cash transaction. Once the tag account is active, FASTag is affixed on the vehicle's windscreen. The information on the tag is passively read by the antennae installed at the toll plaza and subsequently the toll is debited for that journey from one's bank account. The government has given December 1, 2019 as the deadline to make all the lanes and highways FASTag-enabled. From December 1, the users who do not have a FASTag on their vehicles will be charged double the fee in cash for passing through a FASTag-only lane, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said. The tagline of FASTag is "easy to cruise" and helps in uninterrupted movement of traffic.
Know all about FASTag and how to buy one for your vehicle:
The National Electronic Toll Collection also called the FASTag program is an ambitious initiative of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and the National Highways Authority of India or NHAI and proposes to include all state and city toll plazas under one umbrella.
FASTag is a brand name owned by Indian Highways Management Company Limited (IHMCL) which carries out electronic tolling and other ancillary projects of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
The FASTag programme aims to implement electronic tolling system across all the toll plazas. Currently, there are over 500 toll plazas in India that accept FASTag.
The users can buy FASTags from toll plazas, petrol pumps of Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum, Bharat Petroleum, banks, PAYTM and amazon.in
Bank-neutral FASTag is available at petrol pumps across the country and the customers can later link FASTag with their choice of bank accounts. This facility provides flexibility to users and they will have no requirement to fulfill Know Your Customer (KYC) obligations.
FASTag for cars, jeeps, vans can be purchased online by visiting the website of various member banks - SBI, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Paytm Payment Bank, HDFC Bank, IDFC First Bank among others.
Once active, FASTags can be recharged using two mobile apps - My FASTag Customer App and FASTag Point of Sales App using UPI and linking them with the bank accounts.
Using FASTag comes with several benefits. It provides uninterrupted traffic movement, helps in saving paper, reducing pollution, traffic congestion, is convenient and cashless.
A registration certificate of the vehicle, passport size photo of the vehicle owner, Know Your Customer or KYC documents of the vehicle owners like identity and address proof would be required.
The total toll market of the country is estimated to be Rs 20,000 crore a year. In November 2016, the government mandated all new vehicles to feature FASTags on their windscreen and automobile manufacturers were asked to provide the same. The old vehicles can get the FasTag on the windscreens from their respective car dealers.
(With inputs from PTI, IANS)
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