Rs 860 crore fine collected in last 12 months from vehicles without valid & functional Fastags: Union Minister Nitin Gadkari informs Rajya Sabha

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday that toll plazas administered by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) have collected Rs 860.38 crore user fee from users without valid and functional Fastags in the last 12 months between December 2022 and November 2023. The Union Minister was responding to a question raised by a Member of Parliament regarding penalties on Fastag users.

The MP had also asked the details of the absolute number and percentage of total highway users and registered vehicles with FASTags currently in India. To this query, the minister responded that 7,98,07,678 Fastags have been issued till November 30, 2023. 

The minister told the House that the percentage of Fastag transactions is 98.9 per cent of all the toll collected at fee plazas on National Highways during week ending on December 03, 2023.

He also informed that as per Gazette notification G.S.R. no. 298 (E) dated May 15, 2020, users of vehicles not fitted with Fastag or vehicles without valid and functional Fastag are required to pay a user fee equivalent to two times of the normal applicable user fee.

"The amount of user fee collected from such users in the last 12 months from fee plazas administered by NHAI (December 2022 to November 2023) is Rs 860.38 Crore with transaction count of 729.65 lakhs," he added.

In his response to the Upper House, the Minister for Road Transport and Highways also said that the Government has declared all lanes of fee plazas as Fastag lane with effect from midnight of February 15/16, 2021. 

He added that the vehicles not fitted with Fastag or vehicles without valid and functional Fastag are required to pay a user fee equivalent to two times of the normal applicable fee. And the step has been taken to encourage users to opt for ‘Electronic Toll Collection System’ through Fastag.