BHUBANESWAR : Make sure your vehicle is equipped with FASTag before you embark on any tour. Four-wheelers without FASTag will not be allowed to pass through any toll gate in the State from January 1. With the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways making FASTags mandatory for payment of toll across all plazas from the beginning of the next year, the NHAI authorities have urged four-wheeler owners to ensure that their vehicles are fitted with the device.
Odisha has 14 toll plazas including the one at Laxmannath that comes under West Bengal regional office. The FASTag reading devices have been fixed with all lanes in these toll gates along with the handhold devices that can be operated by the toll collection staff in case the auto-reading mechanism fails.
Chief general manager (technical) of NHAI regional office Ram Prasad Panda said there will be no cash collection as the hybrid lanes (having both cash collection facility and handhold FASTag reader device) have been withdrawn following the direction of the Ministry.
“The toll gate staff will check all vehicles before they enter into the lanes and the vehicles without FASTag will not be allowed. Counters selling the tags have been opened by the service providers at all plazas. Vehicle owners can purchase and use it for toll payment,” he clarified.
After the relaxation on use of FASTag by four-wheelers for months together last year, though the Ministry had asked to implement the National Electronic Toll Collection System from January 1 this year, the process was hampered due to the Covid-19. “Now the toll plazas have been fitted with high capacity devices which are capable of functioning during heavy rains. I have asked the officials to verify with all plazas and ensure that the devices are functioning properly,” Panda said.
