FASTag is a new term added to people’s everyday dictionaries in the recent times due to its revolutionary benefits and growing demand. Though introduced not so long ago, it has gained huge popularity due to its varied uses, effectiveness and efficiency. FASTag’s effectiveness and benefits are too crucial that now, it has become a flagship program for the Indian Government. The efficiency of FASTag on the highways has indeed bettered many people’s experience on the road and thus, this has made the government take steps towards its betterment.
The government is mulling over imposing a double toll fee if non-FASTag vehicles enter the FASTag lane so as to ensure seamless movement of vehicles in the lane and to get more people to adopt FASTag. The timeline and the move will be announced by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). But as per some experts, the proposal of doubling the toll fee to impose discipline on the highway is a good idea, but its enforcement could be a challenge.
FASTag is attached to the windscreen and uses Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, same as high security registration plates (HSRP), to enable direct toll payments via bank transfer from the owner’s registered account while the vehicle is moving. The toll fare is directly deducted from the bank account linked to FASTag. This way, the FASTag users are ensured to have a smooth drive on the highway without the trouble of the long queues at toll plazas and few other benefits that follow it, like lesser fuel consumption, less wear on the drive line, etcetera.
This program not only does improve efficiency, but also helps in cost cutting. On the user side, it reduces the usage of fuel, thus reducing the fuel costs. On the other hand, on the Government side, it cuts cost via the restriction of human intervention in the toll system, throwing off the human wages and salaries out of the process. Thus on both, the administrator’s side, as well as the users side, the implementation of FASTag is beneficial. This is being achieved with the help of different institutions such as SBI issuesFASTag online.
Safety as well as law and order issues are not very surprising at toll plazas on highways, including cases of toll tax attendants being assaulted or killed for trying to stop vehicles evading the levy. So, the implementation of doubling the toll fee for non-FASTag users who intrude into the FASTag lane would lead to many such assaults if implemented considering the long list of the positive outcomes of the program alone.
Implemented a little over four years ago, FASTag was rolled out by the ministry of road transport and highways to minimise cash handling, stimulate digital payments, cut down fuel consumption and revenue leakage, and upgrade transparency in processing transactions. As of end of April 2019, 4.7 million tags worth ₹585.38 crore have been issued by 22 banks at over 496 state and national toll plazas in the country, according to official data.
Thus with immense benefits and revenue generating factors,
FASTag is embraced by the Government with wide arms and has been considered a
flagship program for the same reasons.
