Mumbai: The Maharashtra Cabinet on Tuesday mandated that starting from April 1, all vehicles operating in the state should have a FASTag system installed. Toll collection at toll plazas across the state will be done exclusively through FASTag. A decision was taken in the cabinet meeting, which was chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at Mantralaya.
A government official said, “In order to make the FASTag compulsory for four wheelers, the cabinet has approved to bring the amendments to the existing Public Private Partnership Policy 2014.”
The toll collection has been done at 13 road projects of the Public Works Department and nine of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation in the state. Maharashtra deputy chief minister (DCM) Eknath Shinde said that the decision will be applicable at this place as well as for projects that will have to collect tolls in the future.
An official from the DCM office said that the decision will not only save the fuel but also save the time and hardship faced by the travellers due to the traffic congestion. “If toll collection is done through FASTag, there will be more consistency and transparency in toll collection. The delay of vehicles at toll gates will be reduced. This will save time, fuel and bring transparency in the toll tax collection system,” he said.
If toll is to be paid through any other means other than FASTag or if FASTag is not activated or if a vehicle enters the FASTag lane without a tag, the violators will have to pay double of existing toll amount, the official said.
A senior official from the state government said that with the mandatory FASTag, the state government would have three fold benefits. They would get the real time information about the collection by concessioners operating the tall nakas. The system will bring cent percent transparency and it will also help in reducing the long queues of the vehicles to some extent.
“The real time data will help the government in implementing the ‘revenue sharing’ clause in the agreement with concessioners if the collection crosses a particular amount of collection. So far it is not known due to offline payment of toll,” the senior official