South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) has started cashless collection of 'Environment Compensation Charge' (ECC) and toll at all of its 13 toll entry points in the national Capital through newly-installed state-of-the-art radio frequency identity (RFID) system.

A senior SDMC official said till date, only 14,654 vehicle owners or drivers have recharged their tags and only 3,226 commercial vehicles have made payments through RFID tags while entering Delhi through these 13 toll entry points. "Around 2,625 commercial vehicles have been penalised and twice the amount of toll and ECC was recovered from them for entering Delhi without RFID tag or insufficient recharge amount in their tags from midnight of Friday," he said. 

Further, it has also been noticed that some commercial vehicles had entered Delhi through free lanes at these 13 entry points to avoid penalty. Registration number plate of these commercial Vehicles have been captured through cameras installed at these free lanes, he said.

The official said that it was also directed by EPCA to collect twice the ECC and toll charges from commercial vehicle owners or drivers entering Delhi without RFID tags or without sufficient recharge in their RFID tags. However, it has been noticed that despite sale of more than 3 lakh RFID tags, commercial vehicle owners/drivers are reluctant to recharge their tags.

The SDMC had launched RFID system at 13 busy border points in the city on August 24 with the aim to reduce pollution by easing traffic congestions and plugging revenue leakage by ensuring transparency.

Once a person buys an RFID tag and pastes it on his registered vehicle, MCD tax and environment compensation charge (ECC) will automatically be deducted. Vehicle owners can recharge their RFID accounts on ecctagsdmc.com or mobile application — MCD TOLL — and at the 28 point of sale kiosks at the 13 entry/exit points.