Fastags cause confusion, traffic snarls at Kherki Toll Plaza

Sanjay Yadav
Gurugram, February 16

Traffic snarls were reported for most of the day at the Khreki Toll Plaza in Gurugram on Tuesday as the mandatory Fastags came into effect.

Confusion and traffic snarls were caused primarily by people either buying Fastags on the spot or those recharging it, with technical glitches compounding the problem.  Traffic congestion continued despite police deployment in the area.

Many commuters found the sudden transition from cash to Fastag confusing, and personnel at the toll plaza found themselves stepping in and providing assistance several times in the day.  The traffic snarls got worst as peak hour approached. Adding to the confusion were technical glitches, such as when a scanner for the Fastags wouldn’t work, making personnel at the plaza use a manual scanner, thus causing delays. Another problem frequently faced was Fastags with insufficient balance, or ones that were blacklisted.

Shashi Bhushan, the project director of National Highways Authority of India, put the problems down to teething issues.

 “There wasn’t a huge line of vehicles. The queue was only 300-400 meters and traffic marshal managed the traffic. Yes, some technical issues are there, such as Fastags with insufficient balance, black-listed Fastags, etc. and we are taking cognizance and taking it to higher authorities,” he said.