RFID facility will reduce traffic congestion
The Government's decision to introduce an effective digital payment system at highway checkpoints and toll plazas for payments and permits across the country, is timely. Though the bare bone of the system is already in place, it is available only at select points. The Government’s push for electronic transactions will come as a great relief to the trading community, especially truckers, as they are facing a cash crisis due to the Government’s demonetisation drive. In comparison to the global movement of trucks, which normally takes around five minutes at check-posts, in India, the checking goes up to 70 minutes.
On the other hand, truckers in the country cover a mere distance of 300 kilometres, as against the international standards of 700 to 800 kilometres per day. This is sad, as it leads to the loss of more than one and a half lakh crore rupees annually by transporters. Keeping the loss of time and resources in mind, the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways’ advice to the car manufacturers, to provide radio frequency identification (RFID) facilities in new vehicles, will make the existing payment system at toll points easier. The provision of Electronics Product Code Global Incorporated (EPCG)-compliant RFID facility will be a new revolution for an emerging economy like India where transporters are no less than a lifeline, who supply goods to far-flung areas.
Two years back, in 2014, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) introduced an electronic toll collection (ETC) system known as Fastag. Fastag is a device that uses RFID technology to make payments directly from the pre-paid account of the truck owner linked to it. As it is affixed on the windscreen of the vehicle, it enables one to drive through toll plazas without making any cash transactions. The purpose behind introducing this facility was to reduce time and financial loss to the transporters. It has a validity of five years, which can be renewed thereafter. This system can also help save fuel and reduce traffic congestion.
However, the Fastag facility was operational only on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai stretch of the golden quadrilateral highway. Subsequently, it was extended to the Chennai-Bangalore part of the same highway and to NH8 from Delhi to Mumbai. It is now time that the Fastag network is extended to all toll plazas, irrespective of national and State highways. The electronic toll collection system can be used for vehicle identification purpose, and it can also offer solution to minimise car thefts. For a seamless transaction for the truckers, the Government needs to ensure that the State transport administrations are taken into confidence. As of today, it is the States that are shying away from implementing the digitised payment system. The national highways are gradually moving into the digitised system, but unless the State highways are brought into the system, the scheme will remain incomplete.