In a move towards seamless journey and doing away with long queues, the government has notified a new rule where cash will be discontinued from toll plazas, starting April 10. With the new rule, the government is looking at improving traffic flow, along with easing congestion, minimising disputes and commuters flashing their IDs to skip payment. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways have made a new rule that cash will not be accepted at any national highway toll booth. (PTI Photo)

In a gazette notification issued on April 2, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said that a vehicle entering a toll gate can either pay through a FASTag or pay 1.25 times the fee through UPI. The provision of paying through cash on toll gates have completely been ruled out.

What changes in your highway journey The ministry now mandates that a car must have a FASTag, failing which the commuter has the option of paying through UPI, but the fee becomes 1.25 times the normal rate.

Also Read: Toll hiked by 3%-5%, NHAI makes FASTag mandatory across highways

Though, paying a premium fee through UPI existed even before the April 2 order, the cash component have completely been done away with.

Earlier, a commuter had the option of paying double the applicable toll fee when paying through cash.

What if FASTag and UPI both don’t work The answer to what-if-no-UPI lies in a March 18 release of the National Highways Authority of India, which speaks a provision of “unpaid user fee”.

If, in case, a vehicle crosses a toll booth without the toll payment, an electronic notice (e-notice) will be issued to the vehicle owner, following which a payment can be made online.

The notices will be served through SMS, email, mobile-based applications, or other electronic means, and will also be made available on a designated online portal, the release read.

Also Read: FASTag annual pass to get costlier from April, NHAI revises fee | See new fee

Though the e-notice mentions double the applicable toll amount, a payment made within 72 hours of issuance of the e-notice would attract no additional fee.

In simpler words, if a commuter fails to pay through FASTag or UPI at toll booth, but makes payment within 72 hours after an e-notice is generated, no additional fee would be levied from him.

However, in case of payment after 72 hours, the commuter has to pay double the toll fee. If a payment is not made even after 15 days, the amount will be recorded in the road ministry's VAHAN system, inviting "appropriate restrictions".