To prevent national highway users from deliberately not affixing FASTag on the windscreen, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has taken strict measures.
The NHAI has issued guidelines to charge double the fee from users who enter the toll lane without affixing the FASTag on the front windscreen from inside the vehicle, an official release said on Thursday.
NHAI said that deliberate non-installation of FASTag on the windscreen causes unnecessary delays at toll plazas. This causes inconvenience to commuters on other national highways.
The statement said, "A detailed standard operating procedure (SOP) has been issued to all user fee collection agencies and concessionaires to charge double user fee in case of non-installation of FASTag on the front windscreen".
According to the statement, this information will be prominently displayed at all user fee plazas, which will inform the national highway users about the penalty for entering the toll lane without a fixed Fastag on the front windscreen.
Further, the statement said that CCTV footage along with the Vehicle Registration Number (VRN) will be recorded at the fee plazas of those whose vehicle is not fitted with Fastag. This will help in maintaining proper records regarding the fee collected and the presence of the vehicle in the toll lane.
As per the already made rules, the statement said that NHAI aims to implement standard procedural guidelines for fixing Fastag from inside on the front windscreen of the prescribed vehicle.
The statement said that any Fastag which is not fixed on the prescribed vehicle as per the standard procedure is not entitled to make Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) transactions at the user fee plaza and he will have to pay double the toll fee and can also be blacklisted.
The statement said that issuing banks have also been directed to ensure that the FASTag is installed on the front windscreen of the designated vehicle at the time of issuance from various points-of-sale (POS).
NHAI collects user fee on national highways as per the National Highway Fee (Determination and Collection) Rules, 2008. At present, user fee is collected for about 45,000 km of national highways and expressways at about 1,000 toll plazas on national highways across the country.
With a penetration rate of about 98 per cent and over 8 crore users, FASTag has revolutionized the electronic toll collection system in the country.
This initiative of charging double user fee for not installing FASTag will help in making toll operations more efficient. It will also help in ensuring seamless and comfortable travel for national highway users.
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