New Delhi: Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and MSMEs Nitin Gadkari on Thursday announced that FASTag will be made mandatory for all vehicles in the country from new year.
Addressing a virtual function, he said FASTag will be useful for the commuters as they will not need to stop at toll plazas for cash payments. It will also save time and fuel.
The FASTags were launched in 2016, and four banks together issued nearly one lakh of them. By 2017, their number went up to seven lakh. Over 34 lakh FASTags were issued in 2018.
Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had issued a notification in November making FASTag mandatory by 1st of January 2021 for old vehicles also.
As per Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, since 1st December 2017, the FASTag had been made mandatory for registration of all new four-wheeled vehicles. It is supplied by the vehicle manufacturer or their dealers. It had further been mandated that the renewal of fitness certificate will be done only after the fitment of FASTag for the transport vehicles. For vehicles with national permit, the fitment of FASTag was mandated since October 1, 2019.
The steps for ensuring the availability of FASTag at multiple channels are being made through physical locations and also through online mechanism so that the citizens are able to have them affixed at their vehicles within the next two months at their convenience.
