Bengaluru: No cash payment - FASTag mandatory from January 1

Bengaluru, Dec 19: The vehicle owners who have so far ignored the campaign undertaken by the government since a year exhorting them to switch over to FASTag payments at the toll plazas will find it harder to pass toll gates without FASTag from January 1, 2021. The cash payment lanes are being removed from the toll gates from January 1, 2021. This measure is aimed at reducing the vehicular density at the toll plazas, saving on fuel etc. The FASTag system had been made compulsory from January 15 this year. A separate cash lane was being fixed at toll plazas for people without FASTag. As per the current rules, vehicles without FASTag moving on FASTag routes were made to pay double the charges. But now, the cash payment lanes are being done away with. With the onset of the New Year, all the lanes will be FASTag lanes. As of now, about ten percent of vehicles are moving without FASTag. When FASTag was made compulsory, the number of FASTag users had gone up from 15 lac to over two crore. Still, a few vehicles are yet to shift to the FASTag regime. Even now provision has been made to pay twice the charges if they do not have FASTag. After the FASTag was introduced, there was about a 25 percent jump in the toll collection. FASTag can be bought from branches of 22 banks named by the central government, specified petrol bunks, NHAI centres in toll plazas etc. Registration certificate of vehicle, driving licence, two passport size photos, voters’ identity card or Aadhar card will be required to acquire FASTag stickers. They are also available through shopping websites.