No FASTag? Pay twice the toll charge from February 16 – Times of India

NEW DELHI: The Road and transport ministry on Sunday said any vehicle passing through NH toll plazas without a FASTag from midnight of 15-16 February will end up paying double the toll charge.
“It has been decided that all the 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,” the ministry said in an order
The government had earlier made fitting of FASTag for motor vehicles mandatory from 1st January 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 ministry further said.
The Centre had earlier sought support from all enforcement agencies across states to implement the mandatory use of FASTag to pay user fee across toll plazas on NH network.
The NHAI has set up 40,000 points of sale (PoS) to facilitate on-the-spot buying of FASTags.
Originally slated to be rolled out from January 1, 2021, the deadline was extended till February 14 by the ministry of road transport and highway (MoRTH) on December 31, 2019.
FASTag is an RFID tag that facilitates electronic payment of fees at toll plazas automatically. Apart from stopping pilferage of revenue and maintenance of transparency, FASTag will ensure seamless movement of vehicles, saving fuel and time. FASTag, which came into force in 2016, was introduced in Bengal across 25 NHAI toll plazas in 2018. Currently, 75% vehicles using national highways in Bengal make toll payment through FASTag.