Starting December 1, 2019, Government made FASTag processing of toll payments mandatory for all in the country. This lets users drive swiftly through all the toll plazas throughout the nation. The infrastructure is enabled by the new electronic payment system named FASTag, based on RFID system integrated with bank accounts.
Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways unveiled last this system month and claimed it supports over six million tags and processes over 10 lakh transactions currently. This tag is Non-transferable, which is strictly limited to only one vehicle. The system further informs the users about their transactions and balance amounts, so that they can keep a check over the payments.
This further benefits the users in terms of time and fuel as they don’t have to stop anywhere.
How To Get?
All the vehicles purchased from December 1st 2019 shall bear this tag and the customer has to integrate their bank with it from the app. If you’re already owning a vehicle, you can get one from your bank. As simple as it is. NPCI has partnered with over 23 major banks all over the country to let customers buy from them. Most of the banks would charge an initial fee of Rs. 100 for allotting the sticker and an Rs.150-400 as the security deposit, which is refundable.
Updated- Government extends the mandatory roll-out date for FASTags to December 15
How To Use?
Firstly, after getting the tag, you should be sticking it to the windscreen of your vehicle. This should be done as per manual so as to clearly show up for scanning while paying. Further, you should be integrating this with your bank account or any other wallets. You may do this through the FASTag app where you’ll be entering details of your vehicle’s registration number and bank account. You may recharge the tag with UPI even. The government is also giving a 2.5% cashback on every payment done through this system.
Basing on RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tech, this system process the payment in the background in seconds right after scanning. This is made mandatory from December 1st, and users who’re not using this tag will be paying double the fee in cash.
After all, this initiative is a part of Digital India campaign that simultaneously helps users to drive without the hassle and the toll keepers to collect only the exact fee without letting to keep any negligible change to themselves.
Source: NPCI
