How to get FASTag from banks?
FASTag is made mandatory for regular mode toll payment from
December 1, 2019. The Ministry of Road
Transport and Highways announced it. Toll
payments will be made only through FASTags under the National Electronic Toll
Collection (NETC) program. Vehicles passing through FASTag lanes without the
tags at toll plazas on national highways will be charged twice the toll amount.
However, there will be one hybrid lane, where the usual toll will be charged
from non-FASTag vehicles.
What is FASTag?
FASTag is
an RFID chip-based sticker unique to each user. Once applied to the car’s
windshield, and recharged with a balance, you simply pass through an ETC booth
and the RF sensors communicate with your FASTag chip to deduct the toll amount.
This makes toll collection a very quick and convenient process, with no time
wasted exchanging cash and change. So far, more than 80 percent of the toll
plazas on national highways have ETC payment facility in all lanes.
FASTag is a prepaid tag, attached to the vehicle's
windscreen, which facilitates automatic deduction of toll charges and allows
the vehicle to pass through the toll gate without stopping for the manual tool
fee transaction. The program is being implemented pan-India to remove
bottlenecks and ensure seamless movement of traffic. For emergency purposes,
the Centre Government has decided to keep one lane (extreme left lane) as
hybrid lane which will accept FASTag as well as other modes of payment.
The vehicle owners who intend to buy the FASTags
can visit the official website of the financial institutions like SBI, ICICI
Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Paytm Payment Banks, IDFC First Bank as well as
e-commerce platform Amazon to apply for FASTags.
How to apply for FASTag online via banks?
1. Visit the official website of the banks like
SBI, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank who are authorized to sell FASTags
2. search the internet and click on the 'Get
FASTag' / 'Apply for FASTag' link shown on the homepage of the website.
3. Enter your mobile number. An OTP will be sent to
the registered mobile number entered by you. Enter the OTP and click on Submit.
4. Next, enter your personal details (name, email
id, address, etc.., vehicle details (a type of vehicle, registration number,
etc.. upload documents (like a scanned copy of vehicle RC.
5.
Verify all the filled up details in the application form before final
submission
6. After you submit the application form online,
you will be redirected to the online payment gateway for fee submission
7. Save the copy of the FASTag receipt and payment
receipt. Anytime you can take a print out of the same for your reference.
• How to
apply for FASTag?
Visit any of the banks authorized to sell FASTags
and submit the online application form. Pay the required fee through online and
make a note of the reference number for your future reference.
• How to get
FASTag offline?
You can visit any of the Point of Sale places (
like POS locations at Toll Plazas / Bank branches to collect FASTag offline.
• What are
the charges for FASTag?
FASTag has a onetime fee of Rs. 200, Reissuance fee
of Rs 100 and Refundable security deposit of Rs 200. (Note: Security Deposit
may vary depending on the type of vehicle).
• How to
recharge the FASTag account?
Visit the respective Customer Portal of your FASTag
issuing authority and log in. Next, go to the payments section and click on the
'Recharge Account'. Make the payment online and click on Continue.
No FASTag? Prepare To Pay Double The Toll From December 1
· Toll lanes
will be made FASTag-only starting December 1.
· People who
attempt to use the dedicated lane will have to pay double the toll.
· One hybrid
lane will be available for non-FASTag highway users.
Ever had
your highway dash interrupted by the slow pace of a toll booth queue? Well, one
easy solution some Indian motorists have is to shuffle into the FASTag lane.
Come December 1, you’ll pay twice the toll for that. Dedicated electronic toll
collection (ETC) or FASTag lanes at major toll plazas across all national
highways will soon be enforced on national highways throughout the country. The
Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has given directions to convert
all lanes to FASTag lanes by December 1. After December 1, only one hybrid lane
will be available for cash payments, which will eventually be phased
out.
The rules
for charging double the toll as a fine for using FASTag lanes without an RFID
device are outlined in the National Highway Fee Rules of 2008. MoRTH has begun
deploying officers to monitor the implementation of completely ETC booths at
all toll plazas on national highways. The Government is confident that the new
directives will be achieved before the December 1 deadline they have set for
themselves.
Will
FASTag-Only Payments Work?
Earlier,
the government had stated its plan to make FASTags mandatory for paying toll at
all national highways. While the prospect of seamless, cashless toll booth
transactions looks promising, this plan to force motorists to pay twice the
toll may not be so simple. To begin with, the Government currently also allows
one hybrid -- FASTag and non-FASTag -- lane per toll plaza, which drivers are
used to.
It is
common to see the queue in this FASTag lane moving just as slowly as the rest.
This is because motorists without FASTag enter the special lane and slow things
down, taking the fast out of FASTag.
The plan
to convert all lanes into FASTag-only lanes will lead to confusion. Digital
payments are still not common even in urban areas and major cities. A major
chunk of highway users are trucks and transport vehicles, who continue to pay
in cash. So their FASTag adoption will have to happen at the industry level.
National Highway Toll Plaza FASTag Customer Care
Indian
Highways Management Company LTD (IHMCL) will be implementing the NETC system on
the toll plazas of national highways of India. FASTag is the brand name for the
passive RFID tags used in the NETC program. FASTag is a passive RFID tag affixed on the windshield of the vehicle and is used to identify the vehicle
uniquely.
As per
the NETC Program, the members has to provide support to the Customers facing an issue in FASTag or Payments of Toll. Here, we are details of an official
helpdesk cum support number at which you can contact and register your
complaint.
IHMCL/NHAI(MoRTH) Toll Plaza
FASTag Support
Via Email Support:
etc.nodal@ihmcl.com
Via Phone Call:
For complaints of ETC/ FASTag: 01125074100 Ext. 1626 / 01125093514
Toll-Free Number: 1033
Cashback & Promo Code for FASTag
Cashback
of 5% on all toll payments using FASTag in FY 2018-19.
Cashback
of 2.5% on all toll payments using FASTag in FY 2019-20.
The cash-back amount will be credited back in the tag linked account on a monthly basis.
Additionally,
not everyone simply drives onto a national highway. There are local tolls as
well as state highways that many motorists will cross before reaching the
national one. This means that until all toll booths have gone ETC-based, you
will still have to carry cash. Then comes the issue of recharging of the FASTag
balance.
The
enforcement of fines on FASTag-only lanes is a logical execution of the
law. But the intent to have FASTag as the only form of toll payment on national
highways seems like an unreasonable prospect in a country as populous as ours.
Even as more vehicles are equipped with FASTags, queues at non-ETC lanes (and
come December the single hybrid lane) are bound to grow longer after the
implementation of the new rules.
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