Govt moves to end toll waiver on ID display; no cash at booths from April 10

In view of heavy queing across the nation's toll plazas, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) released a notification communicating that use of cash for payments at toll gates will be discontinued from April 10.

Another measure aiming to lessen long queues in tolls, and abolish the use of identity cards at booths by travellers who want fee exemptions at expressways, the ministry reached out to government offices to either get “Exempted FASTags” for commuters who fall under the category, or for them to purchase FASTag annual passes. The annual pass for private cars costs Rs 3075, and allows access across 200 toll plazas.

As means to promote cashless payments, MoRTH guidelines will allow commuters to cross toll booths through FASTag or Unified Payments Interface (UPI), as per a notification released.

An official quoted by the Times of India, “The exemption from paying toll is linked to an authority or an office and not to an individual. But people often show their identity cards to avoid paying toll even when they are in their personal vehicles. This results in arguments at toll booths.”

Adding that commuters should adopt this as soon as possible, considering that NHAI will fast-track the rollout of multi-lane free flow or signal-free tolling across the NH network, vehicles without valid FASTags will get an e-notice of unpaid toll, he added.

According to the notification, if a vehicle does not have a valid FASTag, the vehicle owner or the driver are eligible to pay the toll charges through UPI, which will be 1.25 times the regular fee.

If they do not choose to pay through UPI, such vehicles will be treated as per Rule 14 of NH Fee Rules, which states the provision for denying entry or removing the vehicle from the section of the National Highway.

The authority can also issue an e-notice under a pending toll charge. Failure to make the final payment within three days will attract double the charge, the guidelines said.