As a relief measure to the citizens and to avert inconvenience, the government on Saturday, 14 December, announced that up to 25 percent of FASTag lanes at national highway toll plazas will accept other modes of payment including cash, till 15 January.
The government had earlier announced rollout of mandatory FASTag under electronic toll collection from 1 December, which was later extended to 15 December.
"Considering the request of NHAI and further the citizens are not put to inconvenience... it is decided that depending on the traffic pile up at high traffic volume fee plazas, not more than 25 percent 'FASTag lane of fee plaza' may be temporarily converted to hybrid lanes," the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said, PTI reported.
This is to be considered on a case to case basis, it added. "A daily evolution of such cases be made to take necessary corrective action," it said, PTI reported.
It should be ensured that the least possible number of the declared FASTag lanes are converted into hybrid lanes and at least 75 percent lanes of every fee plaza should remain operational as FASTag lanes, it added.
The vehicles entering a toll booth without a valid FASTag will have to pay double the total toll amount, however there will be one hybrid lane wherein normal toll will be levied on non-FASTag vehicles.
The ministry clarified that it is a temporary measure to be adopted for 30 days only to facilitate smooth flow of traffic so that no inconvenience is caused to the citizens.
The National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) programme, the flagship initiative of the ministry, has been implemented on a pan-India basis in order to remove bottlenecks and ensure seamless movement of traffic and collection of user fee as per the notified rates, using passive radio frequency identification (RFID) technology.
(With inputs from PTI)
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