Even as the Centre has announced that 25% of FASTag lanes at the national highway toll plazas will accept FASTag and other modes of payment for a month, NHAI (Viskhapatnam) Project Director P. Siva Sankar on Sunday said that around 75 % of the motorists have switched over to electronic payment mode.
Meanwhile, motorists who haven’t switched over to the electronic payment mode continue to face difficulties in going through the single ‘cash’ lane at the toll plazas.
RFID technology
The prepaid device (FASTag), which employs Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, would be affixed to the windscreen of the vehicle from inside.
It enables the customer to make the payment directly from the FASTag account, while the vehicle is in motion.
While passing a toll gate on national highway, the customer would receive a text message on mobile phones specifying the amount deducted.
Cash payment to continue
FASTag has been enabled at all eight toll plazas – Anakapalle, Aganampudi, Nathavalasa, Chilakapalem, Madapam, Lakshmipuram (Andhra-Odisha border), apart from the primary and secondary toll plazas on the Port Connectivity Road which falls under the jurisdiction of the NHAI, Visakhapatnam.
“However, we will continue the single lane for cash payment of toll fee for sometime more,” added Mr. Siva Sankar.
