‘FASTAG will be like Aadhaar for vehicles’

NEWDELHI: Efforts are being made to enable usage of FASTAG for making various vehicle related payments such as toll payments, fuel payment, parking charges, among others, union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari said on Monday.

FASTAG, a radio frequency identification (RFID) sticker typically fixed to a vehicle’s windscreen, lets toll booths wirelessly and automatically deduct the fee, thereby not requiring a vehicle to stop. The tags were made mandatory for all new cars sold after December 1, 2017, as a measure to encourage digital payments and free up congestion at toll booths.

Addressing “One Nation One Tag – FASTAG” conference held in Delhi, the minister said the FASTAG is being positioned as the “Aadhaar” for a vehicle; its data will also be used for tracking vehicles on national highways by various enforcement agencies.

He said India’s toll revenue is likely to swell to ~1 lakh crore annually in the next five years on the back of initiatives like electronic toll collection programme, which is being implemented panindia to remove bottlenecks.

“Our toll revenue is approximately ~ 30,000 crore per annum currently... of the total 1.4 lakh km highways under NHAI, 24,996 km of highways currently is under the toll ambit and the length will increase to 27,000 km by the year-end,” Gadkari said.

Beginning December 1, commuters will need to use FASTAG to pay toll across national highways in the country, or pay double if they use cash. The Centre has also asked states to come on board to include state toll plazas under the national electronic toll collection programme. An MOU with some states was also signed for the same.

“Collection at state highways toll plazas is done either manually or through other tags. This leads to inconvenience for the road users. The ministry is therefore encouraging states to come on board FASTAG, so that seamless movement of transport can be assured across the nation. We are now providing financial assistance for 50% of the capital expenditure (capex) cost of installation of electronic toll collection (ETC) infrastructure in two lanes on each toll plaza subject to a maximum of ~20 lakh and also bear part of the ETC programme management fee,” Gadkari said.