FASTag has made the toll tax payment process easier. Now instead of manually paying the toll, the tax is automatically deducted via Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology every time a vehicle with a FASTag crosses a toll plaza.
However, in many cases the equipment used to scan the FASTag put over the vehicle’s windshield is unable to scan the tag in one go. This interrupts the cashless toll payment experience and even leads to traffic jams near major toll plazas.
To tackle these technical glitches the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has ordered a major change in the establishment and deployment of the IT system and hardware at toll plazas so that all transactions through FASTag are processed smoothly.
According to the Times of India, NHAI will only empanel players who will use equipment from manufacturers certified by the Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) Directorate of the Ministry of Electronics and IT. The STQC certification will be compulsory for equipment such as an RFID reader, an antenna, an automatic number plate reader, a toll lane controller, and a toll plaza server.
The Times of India reported that as per NHAI’s new specifications, the “system integrators” will be required to give an undertaking to the Indian Highways Management Company Ltd (IHMCL) that if any deviations are found at toll plazas assigned to them because of equipment, the state agency will have the right to immediately suspend their empanelment and forfeit the bank guarantee.
An official told the Times of India, “We are taking a two-pronged approach to address issues people face due to technical reasons. First, people with experience can only get empanelled and the equipment has to be certified by the most credible government agency. We are also going to deploy engineers at the regional offices of NHAI for better monitoring and resolution of issues.”
The faulty or slow FASTag reading, despite the FASTag account having sufficient balance, results in toll plaza workers directing vehicles to move back and forth so that the scanner can read the tag properly. In extreme cases, the toll plaza workers are forced to use handheld devices to scan the FASTag and charge toll.
NHAI had made FASTag mandatory for all vehicles on December 15, 2019. This date was later postponed twice, once to February 15, 2021, and then to February 16, 2021. The FASTag is valid for five years from its date of purchase. It can be bought from websites like Paytm. One can recharge a FASTag account using net banking or UPI.
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