27.9.19

‘One Nation One Tag’

In a bid to end the use of multiple smart tags to travel on tolled roads and to pay entry tax in different cities, a ‘One Nation One Tag’ is set to be rolled out in the next couple of months.

Currently, FasTag, the RFID-based smart tag, can be used to pay toll on the national highway network and a few state roads and it’s mandatory for commercial vehicles to have a separate tag to enter Delhi, which is issued by the municipal corporation.

Sources said if more municipalities follow the Delhi model of issuing separate tags for paying entry tax, commercial vehicles with all India permits may end up having several tags on their windscreens.

There is already a discussion to bring both the municipal toll tag and the FasTag on one platform.

Road transport ministry officials said to bring all state governments on board for “One Nation One Tag”, it has called a meeting of transport ministers and top officials in the second week of October, which will be chaired by Union highways minister Nitin Gadkari. “There have been complaints from many commuters that they can’t pay the user fee on state roads through the FasTag. Until the same tag is allowed across all roads, this will not be that popular,” said an official. The transport ministry has set December 1 as deadline for vehicles to have FasTags.

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