Today’s Post is inspired by Shri
Narendra Modi’s Mann ki Baat Tweet
@ Cashless treatment for victims of road accidents.
The first part of this program will be
unveiled in Gurgaon, Jaipur and Vadodara and then to Mumbai, Ranchi, Rungaon
and Maurya national highways.
The broad outlines have been mentioned
by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The same is as under: Cashless
treatment will be given to accident victims, wherein the victim does not have
to worry for the first 50 hours as to who pays the money for treatment, will
also be launched soon.
Today at ‘Toll Plaza at KM.37/800 of
NH-4, near Sriperumbudur’, the FASTag ‘Interoperable Electronic Toll Collection
(ETC) system’, on Chennai-Bangalore Corridor of Golden Quadrilateral has been
launched.
The FASTAG was first launched in April 2012
on the 10-km Himalayan Expressway and Shri Nitin Gadkari inaugurated the ETC on the Delhi-Mumbai
stretch of NH-8 in November 2014.
The aim of FASTAG is to ensure ‘Cashless’,
collection of toll on major 350 toll plazas on Indian national highways.
The
contours of FASTAG are as under:
v FASTAG is brand name of Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) program in
India.
v Brand names of similar tags in other
countries are known by different names like “Eazee Pass”, “SunPass” in the US,
“e-Pass” in Australia, “Salik” in Dubai etc.
v Under ETC, payment of highway tolls moves
from physical mode to the electronic mode.
v The respective vehicles having FASTAG can
zip through the highway tolls gates.
v The unique number of the RFID Tag affixed
on the wind shield of the vehicle will be read by the readers fitted in the
dedicated “ETC” lanes of plazas.
v The appropriate amount as per the class of
vehicle will be automatically deducted from the account of the user.
v The dedicated ETC lanes will have colour
coding for distinct identity recognized as “FASTag lanes”.
v The float money in the FASTAGs would be
held by ICICI Bank and Axis bank as they are providing Central Clearing House
(CCH) services.
v ICICI Bank and Axis Bank will distribute the
RFID based “FASTag” through their franchises/agents and at points of sales near
the toll plazas.
v Road users can enrol and get “FASTag”
affixed on their vehicles at designated toll plaza locations or Point of Sale
(POS) stations of Axis bank and ICICI bank.
11
ways through FASTAG can advance Safe Riding in India:-
1)
Introduce
KYC (Know your customers) norms to Indian vehicle owners.
2)
Alert
vehicle owners on their vehicle movement through SMSs’ to their registered mobile
numbers.
3)
Reduce
fuel wastage due to long waiting times at the toll gates.
4)
Introduce
Safe eTransactions channels to FASTAG users.
5)
Boost
eTransactions in India.
6)
Introduce
the concept of real time data on traffic movement on highways to government officials,
to prepare road development plans.
7)
Plug
revenues leakages at toll gates.
8)
Introduce
‘moneyback’, concept amongst Highway travellers.
9)
Track
vehicles in case of criminal incidences.
10)
Introduce
differential pricing i.e penalty of two-times toll from vehicles that enter tag
lanes without FASTAG. This is necessary to ensure that vehicles fitted with
tags don't get caught behind non-tag vehicles.
11)
Enhanced
revenue from advertisements banners at FASTAG toll lanes.
Read
ICICI Bank FAQs on FASTAG here
Read
Axis Bank FAQs on FASTAG now
