New Delhi: If you have not yet installed FASTag on your four wheeler, there is nothing to worry about. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has extended the FASTAG deadline to February 15 for all 4 wheelers in India. The first Fastag deadline was January 1, 2021. The Ministry had announced that Fastag will be made mandatory for all vehicles from 1 January 2021. However, the deadline has now been extended to one and a half months.
A new deadline to make Fastag mandatory to cross the toll plaza has been set for February 15, 2021. This step has been taken to give time to the public to follow the new standard. Fastag was rolled back in 2017 with the aim of digitizing highway toll collection at the plaza and moving towards cashless transactions. The Government of India made it mandatory to install all new four wheelers and commercial vehicles with RFID tags from December 1, 2017.
To promote the use of fastag, the government changed all lanes to fastag lanes, leaving one lane for cash transactions. Currently, Fastag transactions account for about 75–80 percent of all toll collection in India. The Government of India was aiming to go 100 percent cashless at the toll plaza from 1 January 2021. However, it has decided to extend the date of February 15, 2021.
The Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 has been amended to accommodate the changes. Additionally, from April 1, 2021, Fastag will also be implemented. From the next fiscal year, Fastag will be required to obtain a third party insurance policy for vehicles.
Experts also believe that people also want to pay from Fastag to avoid long queues at toll plazas.
According to NHAI, toll collection through e-toll on December 24 had crossed Rs 80 crore per day. NHAI says that now every day there are more than 50 lakh transactions at all toll plazas across the country. So far, over 2.20 crore FASTag has been issued across the country.
Where to get it FASTag?
According to the NHAI, there are about 30 thousand points of sale available in the country, where FASTag can be purchased easily. Apart from this, FASTag stickers can be purchased from the National Highway toll plaza and 22 banks. It is also available on e-commerce platforms like Paytm, Amazon, and Flipkart. Two different Fastags have to be purchased for two vehicles.
How to recharge FASTag?
If Fastag is connected to NHAI prepaid wallet, it can be recharged through check or through UPI Debit Card / Credit Card / NEFT / Net Banking, etc.
If the bank account is linked to Fastag, the money will be deducted directly from the account.
If the Paytm wallet is linked to Fastag, money can be added directly from the wallet.