New Delhi, Oct. 5 -- Any vehicle user entering a toll plaza without a valid, functional FASTag can now opt to pay via UPI and be charged 1.25 times the applicable fee as an amendment has been rolled out to the National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) Rules, 2008, the ministry of road transport & highways (MoRTH) said in a statement. It will take effect on November 15. Under the same rule, vehicles entering a fee plaza without a valid, functional FASTag are required to pay double the toll charges in cash. The ministry's statement said, "In a significant step to incentivise digital payments and eliminate cash transactions at the user fee plazas on National Highways for non-FASTag users, the government has amended National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) Rules, 2008." "Such users who opt to pay the fee via the Unified Payment Interface (UPI), will be charged only 1.25 times the applicable user fee for that category of the vehicle," it said. In fact, more than 98% of toll collections are already conducted through FASTag at national highway plazas, according to multiple replies by the ministry to the Parliament. This change in the rule is expected to increase the proportion of non-cash payments further. The NHAI recently launched a FASTag Annual Pass (priced at Rs.3,000 for non-commercial vehicles), valid for one year or 200 toll crossings, to reduce frequent recharges and ease highway travel. Within four days of the launch, over 5 lakh (500k) users signed up, and on the first day itself, around 1.39 lakh (139k) transactions were recorded....