Of the total 25,937 vehicles that crossed the Chandimandir toll plaza till 6 pm on Monday, only 9,454 vehicles had FASTag while the remaining 16,483 vehicles made cash payments as they were not aware of the new system.
Of the total 16 lanes at the toll plaza here, two lanes each on both sides are meant for cash payments while the other 12 are only for vehicles that have FASTag and can drive through easily without making any halt for a long time.
Even as the Centre relaxed and extended the deadline to have mandatory FASTag by a month, confusion prevailed at the toll plaza and some of the vehicle owners entered the lane of FASTag even when they did not possess the same. Those who entered the FASTag lane have to pay a double charge of the actual toll amount.
Officials at the toll plaza said that there were people who stated that they were ready to pay the double charge as the queues at the cash lanes were really long.
As many as 70 vehicle owners paid double charge till 6 pm. Details after 6 pm will be available on Tuesday morning.
On Sunday, there were 37,000 vehicles that crossed the toll plaza of which 9,194 had FASTag while the remaining went through long queues to make cash payment. There were 923 vehicle owners that had to pay double charge as they entered the FASTag line without FASTag. A car owner who pays Rs 30 had to pay Rs 60.
FASTag facility has been provided at the highway as well with two counters set up where people can get their FASTag or get it recharged as well.
FASTag is a device that employs Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for making toll payments directly from the prepaid account linked to it. It is affixed to the windscreen of the vehicle and it will enable the driver to drive through toll plazas, without stopping for cash transactions. The tag has a validity of five years and after purchasing it, one has to recharge the tag as per requirement. If one is getting a FASTag through bank, the bank will generate a user ID and a password for the person and an account will be created which can be recharged online.
Through radio frequency identification, the signal will automatically turn green after it reads the FASTag on the windscreen. The toll fare is directly deducted from the account linked to FASTag.
A senior official at the toll plaza of Chandimandir said, “At the toll when the FASTag frequency cannot be read and signal remains red for the vehicle, officials have been given hand-held machines as well to read the same. If the recharge is not sufficient, one will have to get the recharge done through point of sale machines here but it will take around half an hour for the account to be recharged.”
There would be SMS & email alerts for all toll transactions, low balance as well. As most of the vehicles did not have FASTag, chaos and long queues were witnessed in the cash lanes where drivers tried hard to manoeuvre to to enter the lane.
Which documents you need to buy a Fastag?
To purchase a FASTag, you need to submit a copy of the registration certificate (RC) of the vehicle and a passport-size photograph of the vehicle owner. You also need to submit KYC documents as per the category of the vehicle owner. The KYC documents (ID and address proof) can be PAN card/driving licence/passport/voter /Aadhaar card. FASTag will be issued following verification of the original documents.
