Anantnag: Chaos continues to prevail at the highway toll plaza here in Kai Chachkoot area of Pulwama district along the NH-44, as the deadline for getting a FASTag has passed and commuters without the tag are now paying 2.5 times the toll they used to pay earlier.
The Government of India, after extending many deadlines, finally made the FASTag mandatory for every vehicle across India by February 15. The government has now abolished all cash payments at all the toll plazas in India.
FASTag is a rechargeable tag on a vehicle linked to a prepaid account for direct payment of tolls through the prepaid account, taking cash transactions at toll plazas out of the equation.
This new high-tech initiative, meant to save precious time at toll plazas, is mostly internet based. It can be ordered online, kept a tab on through a mobile application, and the prepaid recharge can be done online.
For now, however, the exact opposite of ‘saving precious time’ and ‘no cash transactions’ is happening at the toll plaza here in south Kashmir. The traffic mess at the plaza is such that commuters spend more than half an hour to cross the toll post.
“There is confusion, the drivers are furious, and all they can do is enter into arguments with the staff at the toll plaza. These altercations between drivers and the toll plaza staff are hampering the movement of traffic,” an employee at the plaza told Kashmir Reader.
The drivers, on the other hand, are furious as they have to pay 360 rupees to cross the toll plaza. “They used to charge Rs 135 for a round trip and some days back they started charging 180 rupees for the same. Now they are charging double the money and a two-way toll now costs 360 rupees,” Mubashir Ahmad, a daily commuter, told Kashmir Reader.
He said that he does not have the time to go get a FASTag due to his busy schedule, and has to shell out 360 rupees every day. “I am frustrated and annoyed with this government diktat. I don’t burn petrol worth 360 rupees in a day and here I am paying this money to just cross a toll gate,” Ahmad said.
The management at the plaza has also abolished the monthly pass system, which after much ado the administration here had managed to sanction for people living within 20 kilometres of the toll plaza.
“I live here in Chachkoot village and imagine I have to pay 360 rupees to cross this plaza to go and meet my relatives living on the other side of the toll post. This is atrocious to say the least, but no one seems to be listening to us,” Hamid Hussain, a resident of Chachkoot area, told Kashmir Reader.
Even the necessity of getting a FASTag is adding to the woes of people, as hundreds of vehicles remain parked around the toll post where people stop to get their FASTag.
“I decided to get a Fast Tag today and have been waiting for an hour now here at the toll post. It looks as if the Government of India has decided to punish us collectively,” a commuter at the toll plaza said.
For a couple of days now the Deputy Commissioner (DC) Pulwama, Raghav Lankar, has been visiting the plaza to administer “smooth functioning of the post”.
Things however have gone from bad to worse. The people continue to suffer and the administration has been of no help.
Kashmir Reader tried to talk to DC Pulwama, but calls on his phone went unanswered.
Project Director of NHAI in Kashmir, Hemraj Bhagat, also did not attend repeated calls made on his mobile phone.

Suhail A Shah