NHAI decides minimum balance not mandatory in FASTag Wallet
You no longer need to maintain a minimum amount in your FASTag wallet. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) said on Wednesday that it has decided to eliminate the need to maintain a minimum amount in the FASTag wallet. NHAI stated that the move is aimed at ensuring smooth movement of electronic toll plazas.
NHAI said in a statement, ‘To ensure uninterrupted movement of traffic, reduce the time taken at toll plazas and increase the reach of FASTag, NHAI has essentially eliminated the need to keep minimum amount in FASTag account / wallet which earlier had to be paid, in addition to the security deposit for the passenger segment (car, jeep, van).
The authority said in its statement that the issuing banks are unilaterally withholding certain amount of FASTag account / wallet in addition to the security deposit amount. Due to this many FASTag users were not allowed to pass through the toll plaza despite having sufficient amount in their FASTag account / wallet. NHAI further said in the statement that this was causing undue chaos and delay at the toll plaza. From February 15, FASTag will be mandatory to be stuck on vehicles.
FASTag has been made mandatory on all vehicles in India. At the same time, its date was also extended several times to give relief to the people. On which now the government clarified its intention that now the date will not be extended. That is, it is mandatory to have this sticker on all vehicles till 15 February.
According to NHAI, FASTag currently accounts for about 75 to 80% of toll payments. Which means that about 80 vehicles out of every 100 vehicles are paying at toll gates using FASTag.
