The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) has extended the deadline for FASTag for another 45 days. Earlier, the deadline was 1st January 2021 for all the four-wheelers to have FASTag compulsory. But now the date has been pushed to 15th February 2021.
Also Read: Validity Of Driving Licenses, RC And Other Vehicle Permits Extended Till 31st March 2021
Under the original deadline, the govt decided to make FASTag mandatory for cashless transactions from the 2021 year for all four-wheelers sold before December 1, 2017. Until now, FASTags was legally mandated only for vehicles sold from December 2017 onwards. At present, approximately 75-80% of all toll transactions are done in cashless form, and if any vehicle enters the FASTag lane without a valid FASTag, it has to pay twice the actual toll amount. Currently, at all toll plazas, only one lane is dedicated on each side to do cash transactions, while the rest are FASTag lanes.
Although the FASTag system is becoming widespread, still the smooth flow of traffic at all national toll plazas hasn't been achieved yet. There are various reasons behind this but one of the most prominent causes is the improper infrastructure and lack of awareness among people.
In the other news, the Govt has also made it necessary to have a valid FASTag for the renewal of the fitness certificate and insurance, so that people follow this step sincerely. However, this decision will be effective from 1 April 2021. Besides this, MoRTH is also preparing to adopt a GPS-based technology for toll collection systems, making the toll collection process more convenient & hassle-free. To know more about this, click here.
