'Higher' charges & glitches take a toll on FASTag users

PUNE: Complaints related to the use of FASTag have started pouring in even before the RFID-based electronic toll collection system becomes a must at toll plazas on national highways across the country.


FASTag is the electronic toll collection system innovated by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and the ministry of road, transport and highways has mandated its use for all vehicles operating on national highways from December 1.

The device employs the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for making toll payments directly from a prepaid account. It is affixed on the windscreen of the vehicle and enables the person on the wheel to drive through the National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC)-supported toll plazas without stopping for cash transactions.

However, those who are already FASTag compliant are flooding the ministry and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) with complaints on how the system was running into problems such as “failed activation” and “deduction of higher amounts than stated”.

Bhavana Mishra, a city-based event planner, said, “We bought a new car this year and the vehicle came with the FASTag. We connected it to our bank account. But because of recurrent technical glitches while recharging, we now pay the toll in cash.”

A Twitter user recently posted, “Pune Nashik Highway Toll booth after Sinner (near Nashik) has a fastag lane. Once we enter the lane, they say it is closed and ask us to take another lane, we pay cash, after sometime we also get an SMS that toll amount has been deducted from our account.”

A senior official from the ministry of road, transport and highways told TOI that they have received complaints on double toll deduction and forwarded the grievances to the Indian Highways Management Company Limited (IHMCL), the agency implementing the new system.

“They are working on the issues and making modifications in the software to resolve them. In cases of double deduction of toll, the extra amounts are credited to the users within half-an-hour. People can contact the helpline number and register their complaints, which will be resolved on a priority basis,” the official said.

The toll plazas on the national highways are controlled by the NHAI. “We will resolve all the issues soon. We register at least 11 lakh country-wide transactions through FASTag. This is around 40% of the total transactions at the toll plazas,” the official said.

The NHAI has 19 toll plazas on the highways under the jurisdiction of its Mumbai regional office. “Out of these, 15 toll plazas are ETC-enabled. All four toll plazas from Pune to Kolhapur are ETC-equipped. Of the four toll plazas from Pune to Solapur, two are ETC-enabled and the first two will get equipped within a week’s time,” an NHAI official said.

“The two toll plazas from Pune to Nashik are also ETC-enabled. Of the traffic plying on the national highways (including those from Pune to Solapur, Kolhapur and Nashik and Thane to Dhule) in the Mumbai region, 20% or more has RFID tags,” the official added.

Sources in the NHAI’s Pune region said the Khed Shivapur toll plaza witnesses around 30-35% ETC transactions on a daily basis.

A city-based Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation official told TOI that almost 90% of its buses have FASTag. “But some issues crop up every now and then. The antennae installed at the toll plazas sometime cannot read the information on the tag. The drivers often have to pay in cash. Sometimes we get messages on double deduction of the toll amounts. But the amounts are not transferred to us immediately.”

Mumbai-based FASTag user Parag Palsapure said, “The device is not accepted at any of the toll plazas at the Mumbai/Thane entry points. It worked on the Mumbai-Pune expressway though. Another issue is the top-up procedure. The wallet limit is Rs1,000, which hardly covers two Mumbai-Pune trips.”