Big relief from doubling penalty for not having FASTag, only this much penalty will have to be paid through UPI

News Topical, Digital Desk : The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has provided significant relief to the public. Vehicles without a Fastag will no longer have to pay double the toll fee. If a driver's Fastag isn't active, they can pay the toll using UPI. This will result in a 1.25-fold increase in the toll fee.

In fact, the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is making a major change to the rules for paying toll fees. Under the new regulations, vehicles without Fastag will be allowed to pay UPI payments. This will require a one-and-a-quarter, or 1.25, toll tax. The Union Ministry issued a notification on Friday regarding the new rules. This new system will be implemented from November 15th.

Double the fee if there is no balance in the FASTag

It's worth noting that the Union Ministry of Road Transport has taken this decision to prevent fraudulent cash payments. By 2022, FASTag penetration will reach approximately 98%, reducing the average waiting time at toll booths to 47 seconds. Currently, vehicles without a FASTag or insufficient balance would have to pay double the toll fee. Once the new rule is implemented, the penalty will now be only one and a quarter times the amount.

Toll fee will have to be paid one and a quarter times

According to a notification issued by the central ministry, after the new rules come into effect, if the FASTag lacks balance, the vehicle will be charged one and a quarter times the toll tax when making a payment using UPI. However, if the payment fails due to a glitch in the electronic toll collection system while crossing a toll plaza, the vehicle will not be charged any toll fee and will be allowed to cross the toll free of charge.

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Many times we do not check the balance of our FASTag and when we cross the toll plaza, we have to pay double the amount due to lack of balance. If we make this payment in cash, there is no transparency in it. Due to cash payment, there is a loss of about Rs 10,000 crore every year. According to the new rule, when there is no balance in our FASTag, we can make payment through UPI. During this time, the driver will have to pay only one and a quarter times instead of double.

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