New Delhi: Twice the toll amount will be charged from December 1 for passing through FASTag lanes without the tags at toll plazas on national highways, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday.
From December 1, toll payments will be made only through FASTags under the National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) programme, the flagship initiative of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
However, there will be one hybrid lane, where usual toll will be charged from non-FASTag vehicles.
"Double the toll amount will be charged from December 1 for travelling through FASTag lanes without tags on 537 toll plazas on national highways across India," Road Transport and Highways Minister Gadkari said here.
He said 537 toll plazas have become 100 per cent electronic toll collection compliant including 17 where FASTags will be read through hand-held devices.
The government had already decided that from December 1, toll payments will be made only via FASTag under the National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) programme, the flagship initiative of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
FASTag is a prepaid tag, affixed on vehicle's windscreen, that enables automatic deduction of toll charges and lets the vehicle pass through the toll plaza without stopping for the cash transaction.
The programme is being implemented pan-India to remove bottlenecks and ensure seamless movement of traffic. However, the Centre has decided to keep one lane as hybrid lane which will accept FASTag as well as other modes of payment.
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Gadkari said that to promote FASTags, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will distribute it free of cost bearing Rs 150 security charges for buyers from November 21 till December 1. However, it is up to the buyer to charge it with desired amount, he said and added that after December 1, the FASTags will become chargeable.
We cannot say what will happen after December 2. The ministry is submitting deposit money of Rs 150 on behalf of the user now and we are giving it free to promote its use," said Nitin Gadkari.
Gadkari said the NHAI's annual income is expected to touch Rs 1 lakh crore in the next five years.
He added that toll revenue of the NHAI is expected to touch Rs 30,000 crore in the next two years.
Gadkari said the NHAI has no financial problem and added that the third bundle of highways under TOT (toll, operate and transfer) fetched Rs 5,011 crore on Wednesday with Cube Highways emerging as the winner.
NHAI Chairman S S Sandhu said the fourth round of TOT bundle is expected to be auctioned by the end of the current financial year.
On Wednesday, the minister has emphasised that the projects should be implemented in the spirit of minimising waiting period at the toll plazas, so that the users benefit in terms of fuel and time saving, while the society benefits in terms of reduced vehicular emission.
Peeyush Naidu, partner, Deloitte India, said, "(It) is a welcome step that will influence congestion, positively impacting experience, overall travel times for commercial vehicles that pass through several such plazas, as well as emissions from idling vehicles at such plazas."
He also said the associated data can also be analysed to support other traffic as well as infrastructure planning measures.
The National Highway Authority has said it is all geared up for achieving seamless road travel nationwide by making toll collections electronic by November 30.
The Union highways ministry has said from December 1, all the toll plazas across the national highways will be equipped to collect toll digitally from accounts linked to RFID-based FASTags and cash payments will attract penalties.
"We had initially implemented the system on single lanes, which we have ramped up significantly. By November 30, all the lanes will be enabled with electronic toll collection system," NHAI chief general manager (tech) for Mumbai Rajeev Singh told reporters.
He further said that vehicle owners who intent to buy the FASTags from Indian Highways Management Company, incorporated by NHAI and its concessionaires and financial institutions to carry out electronic tolling and other ancillary projects of NHAI, will not have to pay the purchase fees, which is around Rs 100 per tag, if bought from banks.
Banks like SBI, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Paytm Payment Banks, IDFC First Bank as well as e-commerce platform Amazon are selling FASTags. To know more about FASTag, user can call on Toll Free Number 1033.
