The decision of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) to allow payment of toll fee in cash for 30 days has come as a relief for both vehicle users and toll plazas in and around the city.
An official with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) said that the number of vehicles using FASTag has increased gradually, but it is still not at 100%. “Before December 1, the share of vehicles with digital payment enabled was 16% in and around Bengaluru. This has now increased to 40%. Once a majority of the lanes are converted to FASTag, motorists will have no option but to shift from cash to digital payment,” the official said.
The Ministry has directed the NHAI to allow payment of toll fee by cash for a period of 30 days. However, only 25% of the toll booths at plazas will allow cash transactions; the remaining 75% will be FASTag lanes. An official said if a vehicle enters a FASTag lane without FASTag, the owner would be charged double the fee. However, the ministry letter makes no mention of this.
The MoRTH had initially set December 1 as the deadline for FASTags and later extended it to December 15.
