FASTag mandatory at all MSRDC toll plazas from April 1 | Mumbai news

MUMBAI: Starting April 1, it will be mandatory to pay through FASTag or E-Tag at all toll plazas operated by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC). If motorists are unable to pay the user fee through this mode, other methods such as cash, cards and UPI will attract double the toll amount.

“A public notice has been issued that it is compulsory to pay toll using FASTag,” said an MSRDC official. “The move is to make toll operations more efficient and reduce waiting time at toll posts. The decision has been taken to prevent confusion over the utilisation of FASTag. The decision aligns with the policies set by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and directives from the road transport and highways ministry. A government resolution formalising the transition to digital payments has been issued.”

MSRDC operates five entry points to Mumbai: Dahisar, Mulund West, Mulund East, Airoli and Vashi, where light motor vehicles, State Transport buses and school buses have been exempted from paying toll. Apart from these, other toll centres that come under MSRDC are the Bandra-Worli Sea Link, Mumbai-Pune Expressway, Old Mumbai-Pune Highway, Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Expressway, Nagpur Integrated Road Development Project, Solapur Integrated Road Development Project, Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar Integrated Road Development Project, Katol Bypass and Chimur-Warora-Vani Highway. These too will have to pay via FASTag from April 1.

NHAI made the use of FASTag compulsory from February 16, 2021. Currently, NHAI collects toll for approximately 45,000 km of national highways and expressways at around 1,000 toll plazas. In 2013, the Indian government had informed the World Bank that due to Fastag, the average wait time at toll plazas was reduced to just 47 seconds from the earlier 714 seconds.

HC refuses to interfere with mandatory FASTag

The Bombay high court on Thursday dismissed a PIL challenging the mandatory use of FASTag, commenting that it was difficult to accept that the Indian public was not equipped to handle it. Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Bharati Dangre refused to interfere with the policy decision, observing that it was neither arbitrary nor violative of the fundamental rights of vehicle owners.

Pune resident Arjun Khanapure, who had filed the PIL, urged the court to allow at least one hybrid lane where payments could be made by cash or any other mode. His counsel, Uday Warunjikar, submitted that there was a class that was unfamiliar with technology, and levying a double toll fee on them for not using FASTag was arbitrary and illegal. The court, however, rejected this contention, adding that one did not have to be thoroughly tech-savvy to use FASTag.

The judges accepted the arguments of the central government’s advocate R V Govilkar, that people had been given more than enough time and help to begin using FASTag, including making FASTags available through e-commerce portals and the dedicated helpline, 1033, as also setting up around 40,000 service points along highways to provide various services to users.