Page 28 - 31OCT2019E

FASTag: New toll system may

help curtail 60,000 crore
`

loss to country’s economy

No more delays at Toll Plazas as new integrated tolling system in track and trace mechanism for GST
E-Way Bill (EWB) System and enhance
begins for seamless movement, reports tehelka bureau the efficiency in its monitoring.
A manually or through other tags. This mandatory on an all India basis from
This integration would become
report by Transport Cor-
poration of India TCI & IIM
April 2020. This will allow for more effi-
leads to inconvenience for the road
users.
cient track and trace system for the GST
Kolkata says that “the slow
truck speeds on highways
The Ministry is, therefore, encourag-
E-Way Bill System, and check the leak-
and delays at toll plazas
this integration revenue authorities
that seamless movement of transport
costs the country about 60,000 crore ing states to come onboard FASTag, so age of revenue at the toll plazas. With
a year.” The figure is startling to say the can be assured across the nation. For will be able to track the goods vehicles
least. this, Scheme Guidelines for Inclusion to see whether they are actually trav-
In fact, things had reached a stage, of Sate and City Toll Plaza under NETC elling to the specified destination. The
where the transport industry is under- programme (FASTag) were circulated supplier/ transporter will also be able to
stood to have told the union minister to all states by Indian Highways Man- track their vehicles through SMS alerts
Nitin Gadkari that they are willing to agement Corporation Limited (IHMCL). generated at each toll plaza.
pay 14,000 crore upfront every year to The Scheme offers participating Union Minister for Road Transport
stop this toll system. state authorities and agencies shorter
Now the Union Ministry for Road turnaround time by allowing them to
Transport and Highways has found be a part of the robust FASTag solution
a solution in ‘One Nation One Tag — architecture which already supports
FASTag’, to roll out the process for hav- approx. 6 million tags with approxi-
ing a unified electronic system across mately daily 10 lakh transactions.
the country. Under the scheme IHMCL is provid-
FASTag is a simple to use, reloadable ing financial assistance for 50% of the
tag which enables automatic deduction CAPEX cost of installation of ETC infra-
of toll charges and lets vehicles pass structure at two lanes on each toll plaza
through the toll plaza without stopping subject to a maximum of 20 lakh and
for the cash transaction. It is linked to a also bear part of the ETC programme
prepaid account from which the appli- management fee.
cable toll amount is deducted. The IHMCL exchanged MoUs with
The tag employs Radio-frequen- several states and authorities for in-
cy Identification technology and is tegrating with FASTag. The move as-
affixed on the vehicle’s windscreen after sumes special significance due to the
the tag account is active. It is a perfect fact that from December 1 this year,
solution for a hassle free trip on nation- toll collections on all National High-
al highways. ways will mandatorily be done through
Under the National Electronic Toll FASTag only.
Collection programme of the Ministry, Another MoU has been signed be-
toll collection at national highways tween IHMCL and GST Network (GSTN)
toll plazas is done through RFID based for integrating E-Way Bill system with
FASTags. However, collection at state FASTag. This has been done with a view
highways toll plazas is done either to overcoming the existing challenge

Tehelka / 31 october 2019 28 www.Tehelka.com