Owners of vehicles with toll exemption can apply online for FASTag cards

Portal will streamline process and speed up acquisition, says NHAI official

January 13, 2021 04:42 am | Updated 04:42 am IST - CHENNAI

Catching on:  At present, around 74% of national highway users in the State are FASTag compliant. File

Catching on: At present, around 74% of national highway users in the State are FASTag compliant. File

The National Highways Authority of India has launched a new portal for vehicles that are exempted from payment of toll charge at its plazas. These vehicles will be issued with radio-frequency enabled FASTag cards if they apply online on http://exemptedfastag.nhai.org/

“This is to make the process easier for such vehicles that have to otherwise submit physical copies of applications to the respective regional office of the NHAI, who then sends it to the headquarters, which sends it to another agency, and then the FASTag is issued,” a toll operator said.

“There are around 35 categories of vehicles that are exempted from paying toll since they are travelling in the service of the nation. If they submit the applications online along with the supporting documents, the process can be speeded up and FASTags can be issued quickly,” said Pavan Kumar, NHAI Regional Officer.

Official vehicles used by Members of Parliament, Ministers, MLAs, MLCs, High Court Judges, Chief Secretaries, Governors, Lt. Governors, foreign dignitaries, executive magistrates and vehicles used by the armed forces, police and fire services, those used as ambulances and vehicles classified as invalid carriages, used by the differently abled, can apply through this portal.

A toll plaza operator said besides the officially exempted vehicles, at times they had issues with vehicles of local leaders and politicians. “They sport party flags and refuse to pay. Sometimes there are arguments and fights at toll plazas,” he said.

At present, around 74% of national highway users in the State are FASTag compliant. The NHAI is taking steps to increase the number. Motorists have time till February 15 to procure FASTags for their vehicles.

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