KOCHI: The cash collection from the four toll plazas of National Highways Authority of India in Kerala is rising, courtesy the double rates charged at the toll booths for the vehicles entering the FASTag lane without the tag. The NHAI officials said the total collection from the four NH toll plazas – Paliyekkara, Pampampallam, Kumbalam and Ponnarimangalam – in the week ended February 21 stood at Rs 4,94,79,162 (about Rs 4.95 crore). This is up Rs 2.164 lakh from the same week in January when the total collections stood at Rs 4,92,62,772 (Rs 4.92 crore).
As per the latest figures, the cash collections accounted for Rs 3.04 crore out of the total of Rs 4.95 crore in the week ended February 21, which is 61.41 per cent of the total collections. In the same week in the previous month (January 15 to 21), the total cash collections from the four toll plazas accounted for Rs 2.79 crore, which is about 56.71 per cent of the total collections. An NHAI official attributed the higher cash collection to the double rates paid by the vehicles for not having the FASTags for electronic toll collection.
The NHAI had said on Sunday that it has collected Rs 20 crore from 18 lakh defaulters across the country for entering the FASTag lanes at electronic toll plazas on the NH without the tag. Among the four toll plazas in Kerala, Paliyekkara saw the maximum collection from RFID tag-attached vehicles at Rs 9.47 lakh in February 15-21 week, followed by Pampampallam (Rs 5.85 lakh), Kumbalam (Rs 4.81 lakh) and Ponnarimangalam (Rs 1.97 lakh).
Surprisingly, there has been a decline in collection via the FASTags in Paliyekkara and Pampampallam in the week ended February 21 vis a vis the same week in the previous month. While the FASTag collection in Paliyekkara plaza declined from Rs 9.61 lakh to Rs 9.47 lakh, it fell from Rs 7.05 lakh to Rs 5.8 lakh in Pampampallam during the same week. On the other hand, the toll collection via the RFID tags saw an increase in Ponnarimangalam and Kumbalam plazas. While it increased from Rs 1.438 lakh to Rs 1.96 lakh in Ponnarimangalam, the collection spiked from Rs 2.7 lakh to Rs 4.8 lakh at Kumbalam plaza in the February 21 week.
As per the reports, over 1.55 crore FASTags have been issued through multiple Point of Sale (PoS) locations across the country. The NHAI has been observing increased sale rate of FASTags, which is a clear indication that the digital payment system is being accepted well. The FASTag transaction has crossed a landmark count of four million per day across NH toll plazas, the NHAI said on Sunday. To further increase digital collection of user fee via FASTag at the NH fee plazas, the authority had recently waived off the FASTag cost of `100 for NHAI FASTag from February 15, 2020 to February 29, 2020.