Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (KR/EP) 

Udupi, Nov 21: “The union government has directed installation of fastags in all the tollgates in the country from December 1. Owners of all the vehicles except auto rickshaws and two wheelers have to mandatorily install fastags in their vehicles by then,” stated deputy commissioner (DC) of the district, G Jagadeesha. He was speaking after presiding over a meeting held in deputy commissioner’s auditorium on Wednesday November 20. 

“Fastags will be compulsory in Hejamadi and Sasthan tollgates also in the district. Vehicles which do not have fastag facility will have to pay twice the toll fixed for the particular vehicles. Fastag facility can be obtained in all the toll plazas, as well as private and nationalized banks,” he explained. 

“Fastags enable vehicles to proceed without making payment at tollgates and thus reducing traffic congestion. An SMS will be sent every time when the concerned vehicle passes through the toll,” he said. 

“When the vehicle which has installed fastag approaches the tollgate, the bar code on the sticker pasted to the vehicle gets scanned and the toll fee gets deducted from the bank account of the concerned vehicle owner. He will also have a facility of 2.5% cash back,” he added. 

"Vehicle owners have to register for fastag facility by producing R C of the vehicle, Aadhaar card and driving license. The facility is available in all the toll plazas, nationalized and private banks like Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Syndicate Bank, Paytm, SBI, Bank of Baroda, City Union Bank, Equitas Small Finance Bank, Federal Bank, ICICI Bank, IDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank, Karur Vysya Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Punjab National Bank and South Indian Bank,” the DC added. 

Additional deputy commissioner Sadashiva Prabhu, ASP Kumar Chandra, RTO Ramakrishna Rai, national highway authority’s Ramesh Babu, Navayug’s Shivaprasad and others were present.