FASTag To Be Mandatory For All Vehicles From January 1
FASTags, which facilitate electronic payment of fee at toll plazas, was introduced in 2016
Mumbai: FASTags will be mandatory for all vehicles in the country from January 1, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari announced on Thursday.
Making the tag mandatory will also help to ensure that vehicles are passed through toll plazas free of charge as fee payment will be done electronically.
Union Road Transport, Highways and MSMEs Minister Nitin Gadkari has announced that FASTag is being made compulsory for all vehicles in the country from the new year, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said in a statement.
Addressing a virtual function on Thursday, he also said that Fastag would be useful for commuters as they would not have to stop at the toll plaza for cash payment. Apart from this, it will also help in saving time and fuel, he said.
FASTag was launched in 2016 and the four banks together issued around one lakh of them. By 2017, their number had grown to seven lakhs and in 2018 more than 34 lakh FASTags were released.
In November this year, the ministry issued a notification making FASTag mandatory from January 1, 2021, for older vehicles or those sold before December 1, 2017.
As per the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, from December 1, 2017, FASTag was made mandatory for the registration of new four-wheelers. It was also mandatory that the fitness certificate of the transport vehicle be renewed only after the FASTag of the vehicle concerned.
For vehicles with national permits, the FASTag fit was mandatory from October 1, 2019. A valid FASTag will be mandatory to obtain new third party insurance. It will come into force from April 1, 2021.
The ministry said that steps are being taken to ensure the availability of FASTag through multiple channels. They will also be available online as well as in physical locations.
The National Toll Collection Program has been implemented on a pan-India basis to remove bottlenecks as per notified rates and ensure uninterrupted movement of traffic charges and collection of user charges using passive radio frequency identification technology.
(With PTI Inputs)
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