FASTag deadline ending on Monday; not complying will lead to heavy fine: Govt

The deadline for getting FASTag installed in vehicles will end tomorrow midnight- 15 February, and those who are found without valid tags will have to pay a fee that equals twice the fee for the category of the vehicle they are driving, as per a statement by the government.

The central government had extended the FASTag deadline for vehicles from January 1, 2021, to February 15, 2021. Thus, the automatic toll plaza payment system FASTag will become mandatory from tomorrow midnight.

Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on Sunday, told PTI that the deadline for the implementation of FASTag would not be extended further, and the vehicle owners should immediately adopt the e-payment facility.

Introduced in 2016, FASTags facilitate electronic payment of fee at toll plazas and will help in ensuring that vehicles pass seamlessly through these tolls as the fee payment would be done electronically.

Powered by the RFID technology, FASTag comes in form of a chip-enabled sticker that is placed on the vehicle’s front windshield, through which the payment is made automatically from the bank account of the vehicle owner while passing through a toll booth.

As the FASTag enabled vehicles don’t need to stop at the toll plaza, this saves time, fuel and money at the same time. Besides that, the FASTag ensures there is no congestion at the toll plaza. Also, the digitalization of the process makes the tax collection more transparent than a cash transaction.

Click here to buy FASTag in an instant.