New Delhi: Commuters using national highways may not be able to pay user fees in cash and have to rely entirely on digital payment modes – FASTag and UPI – at toll plazas. NHAI said it was “contemplating” completely discontinuing cash transactions at NH fee plazas across the country from April 1. According to current norms, vehicles passing a toll plaza without a valid, functional FASTag are charged twice the applicable toll if the payment is in cash. Those who opt to pay via UPI are charged 1.25 times the user fee for the applicable vehicle category. “The payment through UPI was introduced in Nov as an alternative to discourage cash payment, which was then around 2% of all toll collection. By now, cash payments have dropped to almost 1%, which is half of what was collected in cash just months back. All toll plazas have a UPI system for making payments,” an official said. TOI has learned that while cash payments are likely to be disallowed from April, govt is working to sort out the issue of penalties for overloading that are presently paid largely in cash. “A proposal is under consideration for rationalising and facilitating cashless overloading penalty payments,” the official added. In a statement, NHAI said, “The proposed measure is aimed at consolidating the gains achieved in Electronic Toll Collection and strengthening the efficiency and reliability of fee plaza operations. The transition will help to enhance ‘Ease of Commuting’ for NH users by improving lane throughput, reducing congestion at fee plazas and bringing greater consistency and transparency in toll transactions.” It also said that plaza-level assessments indicated that cash-based payments contributed to congestion, increased waiting times during peak traffic periods and transaction-related disputes.
