PATNA: With use of FASTag becoming mandatory, 85% of the vehicles crossing the different toll plazas on the national highways in the state on Tuesday paid double the fee applicable to the category of the vehicle according to the NH Fee Rules 2008. The payment of penalty by large number of vehicles led to long queues at many toll plazas.
Sanjeev Kumar, manager of a toll plaza on NH-30 (Patna- Bakhtiyarpur), said most vehicles paid double the toll charge for the respective category for not having FASTags. “Today was the first day of compulsory implementation of the rule and many people were clueless about it. As a result, they had to pay double the toll tax. All the 12 lanes on Patna-Bakhtiyarpur highway have now become the FASTag lanes.”
In Gaya, more than 400 vehicles crossed the toll plaza at Amas on Grand Trunk (GT) Road on Tuesday, paying double tax as penalty. This included 220 trucks, around 60 light vehicles and other vehicles, a staff at the toll plaza said. Long queues of vehicles were witnessed at the toll plaza.
FASTag is an electronic toll collection system that is operated by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). The Union ministry of road, transport and highways on Sunday made it mandatory for all four-wheelers across the country to make digital transaction on NHs from February 15.
An NHAI official in Patna said, “FASTag has been introduced for the ease of the people. It will reduce their waiting time at the toll plazas and also save fuel. People should get the FASTag as soon as they can. Otherwise, they will have to pay twice the actual toll fee.”
To get FASTag, vehicle owners have to provide the vehicle registration certificate and KYC (know your client) details, along with a payment of Rs 500.
Commuters, who paid the penalty, were irked. Abhinav Vats, sales manager at a private firm, said, “I travelled from Patna to Muzaffarpur on Tuesday and faced huge jam at the toll plaza. There were long queues of vehicles in each lane as many people had to pay the penalty for not having the FASTags."
Prashant Kashyap, a resident of Kankarbagh, said, “I often travel from Patna to Kudra, my native place. I am planning to get the tag soon as paying twice the toll amount every time is not economically viable. But I am still sceptical about the system being effective as around 50% people have already adapted to it, but not much has changed."
(With inputs from Alok Kumar in Gaya)