Annual FASTag Pass- The government has launched the annual Fastag pass for people traveling on national highways from 15 August. The price of this pass is Rs 3,000, which will be valid for one year. Through this pass, users will be able to cross the toll 200 times.
The government says that this will reduce the cost of crossing a toll to around Rs 15 and will reduce the congestion at toll plazas across the country. This single pass will eliminate the hassle of stopping at toll plazas and recharging the toll plaza repeatedly for travelling on national highways.
With FASTag, money is deducted every time you cross a toll, but with this annual pass, you will be able to cross 200 tolls in a year by spending Rs 3,000 once. The average cost of one toll will be Rs 15. This is economical for those who travel frequently on the national highway. Announcing its launch on June 18, Union Minister Gadkari had said that it costs around Rs 10,000 to cross so many tolls, now the work will be done in just Rs 3,000.
Is this pass valid on all types of highways?
No, the pass will not work on all highways in the country. It will be valid on National Highways (NH) and National Expressways (NE) operated by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and Ministry of Road Transport (MoRTH). Such as Ahmedabad-Vadodara Expressway, Eastern Peripheral Expressway (KGP), Delhi-Meerut Expressway, Vadodara-Mumbai Expressway.
State highways, municipal toll roads or private expressways like Yamuna Expressway, Mumbai-Pune Expressway or Agra-Lucknow Expressway. At these places, toll will have to be paid using normal FASTag. This pass is only for private, non-commercial vehicles such as cars, jeeps and vans. Commercial vehicles such as trucks, buses or taxis will not be able to use this pass. If you want to get this pass, then your vehicle must be registered as a ‘private vehicle’ in the government’s VAHAN database.