Govt approval awaited for FASTag facility at Gurugram-Faridabad toll plaza

Sanjay Yadav

Gurugram, August 31

There is no end to the woes of commuters, especially office-goers, on the Faridabad-Gurugram road. Although the company operating the toll plaza has installed all equipment related to the FASTag system, there has been no progress as the proposal sent to the Haryana Government is yet to be cleared. Charging the toll amount individually in the absence of a working FASTag facility causes massive traffic congestion.

Year on, no permission

Our toll plaza is equipped with the equipment used for FASTags, but we have been waiting for the permission for a year. Once we get the go-ahead, the FASTag facility will be started within a week.

Ashish Bhardwaj, Official, Asian Tollways

Snarl-ups have become the order of the day as around 50,000 vehicles pass through the toll plaza daily.

The state government had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) in 2019 for the use of the FASTag system to pay toll even on state roads, but the toll plaza on the Gurugram-Faridabad road is awaiting permission. “I reach the office late every day due to the jam at the toll. Commuters have to wait for 15 to 20 minutes in the morning peak hour to cross the toll,” said Upendra Dahiya, a resident of Sector 11, Faridabad.

Another Faridabad resident, Rajeev Ranjan, who travels to Gurugram every day by car, said: “Due to the morning and evening jams at the toll, we have to face problems daily. Sometimes the queues of vehicles reach up to one kilometre. We have complained several times, but to no avail.”

Officials of the company concerned said the Gurugram-Faridabad toll plaza, which was set up in 2012, falls under the jurisdiction of the Public Works Department (PWD). Snarl-ups at the toll plaza are a daily affair on all 21 lanes.

“These days due to road construction work in Mahipalpur, the traffic volume has increased here and we somehow manage it with the help of extra manpower. Our toll plaza is equipped with the equipment used for FASTag, but we have been waiting for the permission for a year. Once we get the go-ahead, the FASTag facility will be started within a week,” said Ashish Bhardwaj, who works for toll operating company South Asian Tollways Pvt Ltd.

At present, the plaza is continuing with the existing hybrid collection system, in which cash or monthly passes are used to pay toll. A PWD official said the process of making the FASTag system operational is on.