FASTags to be available for free till February end

• FASTags are nothing but electronic tags affixed to the windscreen of your vehicle.
• The aim is to promote electronic toll collection via FASTag.

In a bid to promote electronic toll collection, the Central government decided to offer FASTag for free from February 15. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways today waived the cost of FASTag off ₹100 for a 15-day period. The new rule will be effective from February 15 to February 29, the ministry said.

“In order to further increase digital collection of user fee via FASTag at NH fee plazas, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has decided to waive off the FASTag cost of ₹100 for NHAI FASTag between February 15 and 29, 2020,” the government said in a statement.

Vehicle owners can visit any authorised point-of-sale location with a valid Registration Certificate (RC) of the vehicle to purchase the FASTag free of cost. However, the security deposit and minimum balance applicable for the FASTag wallet shall remain unchanged, the government said.

FASTags are nothing but electronic tags affixed to the windscreen of your vehicle. As your car approaches a toll gate, a tag reader scans your RFID-based FASTag and deducts the toll charges electronically without any manual intervention. The government rolled out the FASTag-based toll collection system across more than 527 national highways in the country. Over 1 crore FASTags have been issued till December 2019.

NHAI FASTags can be purchased from all national highway fee plazas, regional transport offices, common service centres, transport hubs, and petrol pumps, among others, it added. A customer may call on the helpline, ‘1033’, for any assistance related to FASTags, the ministry said.

After the implementation of FASTag system on national highways for electronic toll collection, the revenue per day has increased to ₹87 crore from ₹68 crore, said Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari.