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New Delhi: Cash payments at toll plazas will be discontinued for travellers on national highways from April 10, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has said.

In a gazette notification, the ministry has said that in cases where a vehicle enters a fee plaza without a valid FASTag, users can still pay via Unified Payment Interface (UPI), but at a higher charge of 1.25 times the applicable toll fee.

A senior NHAI official said that the move is aimed at reducing long queues at toll gates and making highway travel smoother for commuters.

The official said that cash payments will no longer be accepted at the toll booths from April 10, and FASTag will remain the primary mode of toll collection, while UPI will serve as the fallback payment option for vehicles that arrive without a valid FASTag.

“If the user of a vehicle enters a fee plaza without a FASTag or a valid functional FASTag, as the case may be, and opts to pay fee through the Unified Payment Interface (UPI), he shall pay 1.25 times of the user fee applicable to that category of vehicle in accordance with the provisions of sub-rule (2) of rule 4.”

“Provided that if the owner or driver of the vehicle does not opt to pay a fee in the manner specified under this rule, such vehicle shall be dealt in accordance with rule 14,” the notification said.

Recently, NHAI also crossed 50 lakh subscribers for its FASTag annual pass, which allows users to make up to 200 toll crossings for Rs 3,000 per year. Since its launch August 15, a total of 26.55 crore transactions have been carried out through these passes.

There are over 1,150 fee plazas on various National Highways and Expressways in the country

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