Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, on Sunday said that the deadline for adoption of FASTag will not be extended anymore and it will be applicable from the midnight of February 15-16. Hence, vehicle owners should immediately adopt FASTag. Gadkari said that the vehicle owners should immediately adopt FASTag, the e-payment facility at toll plazas. The system was introduced in the year 2016. Central Government had earlier extended FASTag registration deadline two-three times and it will not be extended further.
The previous deadline was January 1, 2021. It was extended to February 15. FASTag is a system using radio frequency identification (RFID) tag that facilitates electronic payment of tax/fee at toll plazas automatically. Meanwhile, on Sunday, the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways issued a statement that all lanes at the toll plazas on National Highways would be declared as ‘FASTag lane of the fee plaza’ with effect from midnight of February 15-16. 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. Thus, vehicles without FASTag passing through National Highway toll plazas will have to pay double the toll tax from the midnight of February 15-16. The Ministry stated that this was being done to ‘further promote fee payment through digital mode, reduce waiting time and fuel consumption, and provide for a seamless passage through the fee plazas’. The Ministry had mandated fitment of FASTag in ‘M&N categories’ of motor vehicles with effect from January 1, 2021. Category ‘M’ stands for a motor vehicle with at least four wheels, and used for carrying passengers. Category‘N’ stands for a motor vehicle with at least four wheels, and used for carrying goods which may also carry persons in addition to goods.
