15th December, 2019 || Extended Deadline For FasTag

Govt Postpones Mandatory Implementation of FASTag to DECEMBER 15

Earlier the date of implementation was on 1 December. It said it will now charge double user fee from vehicles entering FASTag lane without FASTag from December 15, instead of December 1.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in a statement said, "... to provide some more time to citizens to buy and put FASTag on their vehicles, it has now been decided that charging of double user fee from vehicles which enter FASTag lane without FASTag will start from December 15, 2019 instead of December 1, 2019."

Over 70 lakh FASTags had been issued till Wednesday, with the highest per-day issuance of 1,35,583 tags on November 26, 2019, whereas 1.03 lakh tags were issued on the day before.

The average daily issuance had grown by 330 per cent from 8,000 in July to 35,000 tags sold in November 2019 after the Government announced to implement it from December 1.

After announcement of waiver of tag cost from November 21, there has been a growth in FASTag issuance.

To give a fillip to digital payments and bring in enhanced transparency, the ministry had directed to declare all lanes of fee plazas on national highways as 'FASTag lanes' by December 1.

However, one lane in each direction was decided to be kept as 'hybrid lane' which will accept FASTag and other modes of payment.

"With the above mandate, average daily transactions processed through FASTag have grown from 8.8 lakh in July this year to 11.2 lakh transactions in November 2019, while the average daily collection has grown from ₹11.2 crore to ₹19.5 crore for the given period," the ministry has said earlier this week.

All the available mode of recharges such as debit card, credit card, net banking and Unified Payments Interface have been enabled for loading money to the FASTag account.

customer may call on the helpline number, '1033', for any assistance related to FASTags, the ministry said and added that they can also reach out to the banks to obtain FASTags.

(With agency inputs)