The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has made it compulsory for all vehicle owners to use FASTags, which facilitate electronic payment of fees at toll plazas, beginning from February 15 midnight. As per the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, all lanes on the fee plazas on national highways shall be classified as 'FASTag lane of the fee plaza' from today midnight.

Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has urged people to adapt to FASTags quickly as the deadline to implement FASTag would not be extended further. With more than 2.54 crore users, FASTag contributes 80 per cent of the total toll collection. Daily toll collection using FASTag has surpassed the Rs 89 crore-mark.

What is FASTag and how do you get it?

FASTag is a sticker attached on your windshield from the inside. It has an imprinted radio-frequency identification (RFID) barcode linked to all the registration details of your vehicle. FASTag is valid for five years from the date on which it was issued.  You can get FASTags from toll plazas, banks like SBI, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and apps such as Paytm and Airtel Payments Bank.

Can I buy FASTag at toll booth?

Yes. One can buy FASTag from a toll plaza.

Is FASTag mandatory from tonight?

Yes. The Central Road Transport and Highways Ministry, helmed by Nitin Gadkari, has made FASTags mandatory on all national highways from February 15 midnight.

How and where to apply for FASTag?

Vehicle owners can go to any of the Point of the Sale (POS) locations at toll plazas/ issuer agencies to create their FASTag accounts. In order to know more about the same, a vehicle owner can dial the customer care number of the issuer agency.

For this, you need documents like registration certificate (RC) of the vehicle, passport size photo of the owner, KYC documents according to the category of the vehicle owner (individual/corporate), identification document (PAN Card, Passport, Voter ID Card) and Aadhar Card with the address.

Can I get FASTag immediately?

In a bid to get FASTag quickly, you can also visit Amazon.in or approach banks like ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Airtel Payments Bank, State Bank of India, Kotak Bank, Axis Bank, and Paytm Payments Bank. Recently, ICICI also announced a collaboration with Google to enable vehicle owners to pay for a FASTag via Google Pay.

To purchase FASTag via a bank, the vehicle owner will have to visit their website. In the case of Airtel Payments Bank, one can purchase these directly from the payments app on your phone.

Can I have two FASTags for one car?

A vehicle owner can purchase only one FASTag for a single vehicle. In case someone has multiple cars, they will need to take separate FASTags for each vehicle.

To recharge your FASTag account, you can pay via cheque or online through Credit Card/ Debit Card/NEFT/RTGS/Net Banking. FASTag account can be recharged till Rs 1 lakh. Vehicle owners can also recharge their FASTag accounts via online payment apps like Google Pay, Paytm, Airtel Payments Bank and PhonePe.

Can I Go Without FASTag?

No. If you don't have FASTag installed on your windscreen, you will have to pay a heavy fine -- double the toll amount.

Also read: No minimum balance in FASTag now

Also read: FASTags to be mandatory from February 15; all you need to know

Also read: Nitin Gadkari urges vehicle owners to adopt FASTag immediately

Also read: FASTag mandatory from Feb 15 midnight: Be ready to pay double if your vehicle doesn't have FASTag

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