Sale of FASTags — the RFID tags for electronic payment of tolls on National Highways — has soared within days of government announcing that the cost of tags will be waived till December 1.
Road users, who want to pay toll in cash, who get into cashless toll payment lanes will have to pay double the toll amount as penalty.
Almost 1.35 lakh FASTags were issued on Tuesday (November 26), 1.03 lakh tags on Monday (November 25) and 67,000 last Saturday. The announcement about waiving off charges was made last Friday.
These numbers are higher than the average daily issuance from 8,000 in July to 35,000 tags in November 2019, said an official release.
From December 1, toll payments on all national highway lanes (barring one) will go electronic..
These tags are accepted on over 560 toll plazas and more number of plaza are getting added on daily basis, it added.
Meanwhile, following NHAI move to make the tags free, several banks have started waiving some portions of cost related to FASTags — giving a push to marketing of Fastags.
“Some commuters are facing difficulty at toll plazas as they do not maintain enough balances in the accounts linked with FASTags. Commuters are advised to maintain sufficient balance in the account/wallet linked to FASTag so that they can pay the toll amount,” stated an official release.