Chennai: To facilitate seamless vehicle movement on the national highways, it has become imperative to get over cars having to stop at toll plazas to pay cash. A solution in the form of a Passive Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag attached to the windscreen of vehicles was introduced as a first of its kind in south India at the Chennai–Bengaluru highway on Sunday.
With a tag attached, vehicles can now travel without having to pay cash at the four toll plazas – Walajhapet–Poonamallee (NH-4), Krishnagiri–Walajhpet (NH-46), Hosur-Krishnagiri (NH-7) and Bengaluru-Hosur (NH-7). The initiative, introduced under the aegis of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), was launched at Sriperumbudur toll plaza on NH-4.
The Interoperable Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) system is activated through ‘Fastag’, an RFID enabled chip that works like a prepaid card which will automatically deduct the toll amount when the vehicle passes the Toll plaza.
“With the tag attached on the windscreen of the vehicle, the biggest advantage is that one’s vehicle is safe and secured. If a vehicle is missing, one can raise a complaint and track the vehicle with the unique identification number on the card,” said Alkesh Kumar Sharma, Joint secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways af ter inaugurating the function at Sriperumbudur.
The ‘Fastag’ can be obtained by submitting the Know Your Customer (KYC) documents and paying a one-time fee at the POS stations that have been set up at toll plazas. Once attached on the windscreen, the tag will be permanent for the vehicle and cannot be used by any other vehicle. Currently the government has engaged ICICI bank and Axis bank to sell and set up the POS stations at their bank branches near the toll plazas.
Depending on the usage pattern, the prepaid amount could be paid at the time of initial activation and may be topped through cash, cheque / DD, credit / debit card or net banking. After the operation of Chennai-Bangalore section, Toll plazas of Bengaluru-Mumbai will be added for seamless passage between Chennai and Mumbai, said NHAI officials.
