Now the authority will empanel only those players who have good experience, and they will mandatorily procure equipment only from manufactures certified by the Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) directorate of the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY).
The STQC certification is mandatory for equipment, including RFID (tag) reader along with the anteena, automatic number plate reader, toll lane controller and toll plaza server.
As per the new specifications, the system integrators will have to give an undertaking to the IHMCL, the NHAI’s agency responsible for toll collection, that if any deviation are found at toll plazas designated to them because of equipment, the agency will have the right to immediately suspend the empanelment and forfeit the bank guarantee.
TOI, in a report titled ‘FASTag made highways cashless. Here’s why they aren’t jam-less’, had highlighted how many times commuters face hassle at toll gates even when their FASTags have enough balance due to glitches or inefficiency of the hardware and system deployed at plazas that don’t read the tag. Toll collectors asked commuters to take their vehicles back and forth or end up using hand-held devices to read the tag.
“We are taking a two-pronged approach to address issues people face due to technical reasons. First, people with experience can only get empanelled and the equipment has to be certified by the most credible govt agency. We are also going to deploy engineers at the regional offices of NHAI for better monitoring and resolution of issues,” said an official.
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