The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has issued a notification stating that all four wheelers sold in India from December 1, 2017 will have to be fitted with FASTags. These FASTags will have to be fitted on the windscreen of the vehicle by the manufacturer or an authorized dealer.
#FASTag to be installed on all 4 wheelers from 1st December’17 #NewIndia pic.twitter.com/T588T27ypb
— MORTHINDIA (@MORTHIndia) November 2, 2017
The ministry also added that vehicles which are sold as a driveaway chassis without the provision of a windshield will have to get their FASTags fitted by the owner of the vehicle before it is registered with the RTO. The notification comes as a part of the government’s digitization drive.
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A FASTag is a device that uses Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for automatic and cashless payment at a toll booth. Once purchased, the FASTag can be used for five years from the date of purchase. The FASTag user has to recharge the tag depending on his or her usage, which will benefit the user as their will be less time spent at the toll booth. The tag also features SMS alerts for toll transactions and low balance.
The FASTag service is a part of the National Highway Authority of India’s (NHAI) programme for electronic toll collection on toll plazas on national highways. It can be used at all toll plazas that fall under the National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) programme. Presently, over 240 toll booths across the National Highway network accept FASTags and the number is bound to increase soon.