FASTag suffers teething problems

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, December 13

With the implementation of electronic toll collection system FASTag fast approaching, commuters are facing difficulties at the toll plaza due to technical snag, less awareness among them regarding FASTags wallet and low balance in the FASTags wallet.

Most of the commuters who have purchased these tags from banks or e-commerce sites are facing a lot of problems as these are not properly linked either with their account or with the app. As a result, these are not functioning properly.

It seems it will take time for the smooth functioning of this ambitious project of the Union Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways.

At the Bastara toll plaza in the district, The Tribune found commuters gathered in large numbers at the stalls installed by banks, Paytm and a toll plaza company to get the facility. The commuters were not aware about the balance in their FASTags wallet. On some vehicles, the FASTag was not fixed properly due to which FASTag readers for electronic toll collection were not able to read it.

“I had to wait as I was not aware about the balance in my FASTag wallet. I had to pay in cash. An employee of the toll company made me aware of this system,” said Neeraj Kumar, a commuter.

Ramesh Mehla, another commuter who had fixed the tag at a wrong angle, had to wait as it was not readable to the scanner. The employee had to use manual scanner for it.

Manish Kumar, in-charge of the Bastara toll plaza, admitted that commuters were not much aware about the system.

“Most of the commuters are not aware about the functioning of this initiative. Some commuters are complaining that banks have not informed them about the functioning. A large number of commuters do not have sufficient balance in their FASTag wallet. They are not aware about maintaining the balance and the recharging system. We are making them aware about it,” Manish said, adding that they have equipped 20 lanes with FASTags, except two lanes for cash — one for up and the other for down traffic.

“Double toll will be charged if any non-FASTag vehicle enters FASTags lanes after December 15,” he said. On an average, around 40,000 vehicles use this toll plaza daily and around 35 per cent of the vehicles have already switched to this service. He said that the monthly pass would be linked to FASTags.

Similar kinds of problems are being faced by commuters at other toll plazas in the state. In Hisar, toll plazas are witnessing vehicle congestion on the cash lanes while the lanes for FASTag vehicles are operational rather smoothly. Toll officials have also started facing a problem of change and small notes as they are not carrying much cash after the introduction of FASTag.

Rajesh, a motorist at the Mayyar toll plaza, said that toll officials should cooperate with the customers who visit the centre for FASTag or monthly passes.

In Rohtak, FASTags are available at toll plazas as well as at banks though vehicle-owners have to wait for some time to get these.

While the officials concerned maintained that the issuance of FASTags is going on smoothly, there is a mixed response from customers.

“I went to the Makdauli toll booth a couple of days ago to get FASTag for my car, but couldn’t get it as there were a number of people waiting for their turn and I was hard-pressed for time,” says DS Chaudhary, a local resident.

In Panipat, Kashmir Singh, toll plaza manager, said that technical issues at the server or FASTag readers happen by chance. The maximum complaints reported here are of not having sufficient balance in their FASTag accounts or breakage of FASTag chip, he said.

(With inputs from Deepender Deswal, Sunit Dhawan and Mukesh Tandon)

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