Hyderabad: The HMDA has entered in to a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with banks to provide FASTags, pre-paid radio frequency tags to pay the fee online without stopping at toll plazas. The authority has laid a dedicated internet line for the service.
HMDA said it will provide FASTags in two weeks to facilitate hassle-free travel during the festive season which begins in the third week of October and ends in January.
During every major festival, traffic gets stuck for up to 2 km on the national highway especially towards Vijayawada as vehicles stop at the toll gate to pay the fee. The use of FASTags will ease the rush by making payments online and avoid the time-consuming halt at the toll booth. However, FASTags have failed to impress commuters during its 10-day trial run in July as a long queue of vehicles formed at the toll plazas during the test period.
Asked about this, asenior HMDA official said all issues encountered during the trial run had been rectified. The HMDA had completed 90 per cent work of laying a 100-MBPS dedicated internet cable at toll plazas along the ORR and remaining work will be completed in a week.
The official said the FASTags account can be operated online using the issuer agency’s web portal. The account can be recharged online using debit/ credit card/ RTGS/NEFT or through Net-banking. The '67-crore project for establishment and maintenance of the toll management system has been bagged by Efkon India Pvt. Ltd.
