Free Republic

While FASTag was seen as a transformative step to overcome various toll hurdles, the initiative doesn't have everyone's blessings. Ever since, FASTag was made mandatory for vehicles, there have been frequent commotions between locals and toll companies over concession. There has also been a growing demands of locals wanting a toll-free service as another option. However, as such a drastic rule change seems far from simple, it has led to people taking matters into their own hands. Tired of paying toll tax, villagers in coastal Karnataka, used a bulldozer to construct a 'parallel' road to bypass the booth. The residents...

Three years after the colossal failure of demonetisation the Narendra Modi government has embarked on a similar venture, the FASTag programme, this time targeting road users across the country. But just a day before the November 30 deadline, by which date all vehicles plying the highways would have been mandatorily required to affix an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag on their vehicles, the government blinked. And, like demonetisation, the design of this scheme also reflects a simpleton’s naivete. The announcement that those without the tag would be charged double the tariff at the toll gates set off a firestorm of...