FASTag is now mandatory, violators will end up paying double

Government refused to extend deadline any further 

Pune: If you do not have FASTag on your vehicle and if you enter the FASTag lane, you will end up paying twice the toll fee. This will now also impact you if you are driving within the city. After pushing multiple deadlines on the FASTag implementation, it’s now come into force from February 15.

To eliminate long waits and even cash payments at toll places this initiative was introduced by the government to facilitate digital payments. Multiple banks, namely HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Bank, Paytm Payments Bank and IDFC First Bank are issuing FASTags at this time.

“Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has decided that all lanes in the fee plazas on National Highways shall be declared as FASTag lane of the fee plaza w.e.f midnight of 15th/16th February 2021. Therefore, as per NH Fee Rules 2008, any vehicle not fitted with FASTag or vehicle without valid, functional FASTag entering into the FASTag lane of the fee plaza shall pay a fee equivalent to two times of the fee applicable to that category,” the government’s Press Information Bureau said in a statement on Sunday.

Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on Sunday said that the deadline for implementation of FASTag will not be extended and vehicle owners should immediately buy the e-payment facility.

The NETC, or National Electronic Toll Collection, operates with digital payment mechanisms established by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and utilizes RFID innovation to generate payments instantly without stopping the vehicle or paying cash physically.