If you have not bought FASTag for your vehicle yet, get ready to pay double the toll charge from today across national highways in India. With effect from December 15, the government has converted all lanes, barring one, on toll plazas to FASTag-only lane. The National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) programme will not only promote digital payments but also ensure seamless traffic movement on highways. Affixed to the windscreen of your vehicle, the FASTag runs on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology which allows payments of toll charges from a prepaid wallet or bank account linked to it.
Using FASTags for toll charge payment has another advantage till March 2020 as the government is offering a cashback of 2.5%.
FASTag rule explained in 5 points:
1) In case you are going without a FASTag, look for the hybrid lane in toll plazas where FASTag as well as other modes of payment will be accepted. The ministry of road transport and highways has instructed that one lane on either side of the toll plaza shall be kept as hybrid lane. You will, however, have to pay double the toll tax as a penalty. At some toll plazas you may find more than one hybrid lane as the government has allowed them to keep upto 25% lanes as hybrid ones for a month.
2) FASTags are priced at ₹100 but the government was giving it out for free for few days last month to popularise its use. Besides, you also need to pay ₹150 as security deposit and recharge it as per your use.
3) Designed as an Aadhaar card for vehicles, FASTags are not issued without KYC documents. You will need to submit the Registration Certificate (RC) of your vehicle, your passport-size photograph as well as your own identity proof document.
4) Besides toll plaza counters, you can buy FASTags from banks like SBI, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Paytm Payments Bank, etc. It is also being sold online on Amazon.
5) Once you buy the FASTag you can either use the e-wallet option and keep recharging it with online payment modes like debit card, credit card, internet banking, UPI, etc. Alternatively, you can also link it to your bank account. But before you recharge, you need to activate the tag by entering details related to you and your vehicle in MY FASTag mobile app.
