Two lanes on Kherki Daula toll plaza, one in each direction, were marked and reserved exclusively for FASTag users on Friday.
This comes after National Highways Authority of India’s direction to dedicate one lane in each direction on all toll plazas for FASTag to promote digital toll collections and prevent traffic congestion.
“One lane in each direction has been reserved for FASTag vehicles on all the toll plazas on national highways from today [on Friday]. Such vehicles can cross the toll plaza without having to wait to make the payment. Lane No. 3 towards Delhi and Lane No. 17 towards Jaipur have been reserved for FASTag users on Kherki Daula toll plaza. The necessary signboards and road markings are at a distance of about 500 metre on both sides,” said NHAI project director Ashok Sharma.
Fines to be collected
FASTags are an electronic toll collection system where the amount is automatically deducted from one’s bank account once the tag is scanned by a radio frequency identification scanner. The vehicles using this tag can cross any toll plaza on national highways across India.
Unauthorised vehicles entering the lanes meant for FASTag vehicles will be fined. However, toll officials at Kherki Daula said that they were yet to start penalising the vehicles.
Marshals deployed
“Marshals have been deployed at the entry points to prevent entry of unauthorised vehicles, but still some vehicles manage to enter the dedicated lane. We still have not started penalising them. We hope the new system will reduce traffic congestion and promote digital collection with more commuters shifting to FASTag mode of payment in the coming months,” said Skylark project head Piyush Gandhi which manages the Kherki Daula toll plaza.
Dalbir Singh, Skylark administration project head said that at least 2,500 vehicles passing through the toll plaza used the FASTag mode of payment and he hoped the number to increase several folds with dedicated lane for such vehicles.
