No FASTag for tolls? Relief on penalty if paid through UPI, says govt

Now non-FASTag users to pay 1.25x, not 2x of toll if paying via UPI

In a bid to end cash leakages during toll collections on national highways, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has introduced a provision that will now allow users who do not have FASTag to pay a lower penalty if they choose to pay the toll through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

 

“Provided that if the user of the vehicle, without a FASTag or a valid, functional FASTag, as the case may be, opts to pay fee through the UPI, he shall pay 1.25 times of the user fee applicable to that category of vehicle,” the highways ministry said in a notification today. 

The new rule will come into effect from November 15, the notification said.

 

Currently, users who do not have an installed or functioning FASTag have to pay twice the toll amount at the toll plaza. This move was announced by the government to increase adoption of the system, which has brought down wait times at toll plazas significantly.

 

The current adoption of FASTag among highway users is around 98 per cent, and this has brought down the average wait time at toll plazas to 47 seconds as of 2022, according to government estimates.

 

For example, if the user fee for a particular class of vehicle is Rs 100 and if that vehicle enters a fee plaza without a FASTag or a valid, functional FASTag, the user will pay twice the user fee (Rs 200 in cash). In case the user opts to pay the fee through UPI, he will pay 1.25 times, or Rs 125.

 

The change is expected to reduce the use of cash at toll plazas. Union highways minister Nitin Gadkari has in the past said that there are major leakages in national highway toll collection. During the launch of the ministry’s drive to implement satellite-based toll collection in June 2024, Gadkari had said that close to Rs 10,000 crore is lost to leakages every year.