FASTag: Big news for vehicle owners. There is going to be a big change in the highway toll collection system in the country. A new system is going to replace FASTag. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has made a big announcement regarding FASTag and toll system, which can completely change the way the toll is collected on highways in the country. Nitin Gadkari said during a program on Monday that the central government is bringing a new toll policy within the next 15 days and when this policy will be implemented, no one will have to complain about the toll. “For now, I will not say much about it.
GPS based toll system will be started
In the GPS based toll system, a device called On-Board Unit (OBU) will be installed in vehicles which will replace the FASTag system currently in use. This device will track the movement of the vehicle through GNSS i.e. Global Navigation Satellite System technology. When a vehicle moves on the highway, the distance it is covering will be recorded through OBU. The toll amount will be decided accordingly and it will be deducted directly from the driver’s bank account or digital wallet.
That is, the toll will be automatically deducted from your account for the distance you cover on the highway. The special thing is that people will not need to stop at the toll plaza. Initially, this system will be applicable to big vehicles like trucks and buses, then gradually it will be applicable to all private vehicles and cars. This system will run on India’s own satellite NavIC, due to which the data will remain within the country and will be safe.
Journey from FASTag to GPS
Fastag (Electronic Toll Collection) was introduced in India in the year 2016, which allows you to cross the toll plaza without stopping. The purpose of Fastag was to save people’s time. RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology is used in this. A tag is placed on the windshield of the vehicle and the scanner installed at the toll plaza scans that tag.
This automatically deducts the toll and the car crosses the toll without stopping. But, in the last few years, people have been facing some problems, such as heavy crowds, technical flaws and some people misused the tag. In view of all these problems, the government is focusing on the modern system.