FASTag is an automatic toll plaza payment system that has become mandatory from today midnight. According to a report published in NDTV, if a person has not installed FASTag, they will have to shell out twice the fee for the category of the vehicle.
According to the government, all lanes on National Highways will be able to read the tags for smooth commuting by people.
Press Information Bureau in a statement said, "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 complete transition to FASTag will promote digital payment of fees. It will reduce the time of waiting and thus, fuel consumption by vehicles will be reduced. It will also allow seamless and smooth passage through toll plaza.
The FASTag is mandatory for M and N category of vehicles where M includes four wheels vehicles carrying passengers and N includes four wheels vehicles used for carrying load as well as passengers.
Nitin Gadkari, the union transport minister said the deadline won't be extended. It was introduced in 2016 and now people will have to use it for the facilitation of e-payment. According to PTI, only 10% people are left who have not registered for FASTag yet.