FASTag: In partial relief to highway commuters, 25% toll lanes to take cash till Jan 15

Agencies
December 15, 2019

New Delhi, Dec 15: To avoid chaotic scenes at toll plazas after directive to turn toll lanes into FasTag lanes across the country, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has decided to deploy marshals at all the plazas across the country to guide vehicles.

Besides, regional officers of the apex road development agency would personally monitor the congested toll plazas and based on traffic flow decide on marking lanes to cash lane subject to a cap of 25 per cent of the total lanes.

With the roll-out of all FasTag lanes plan kicking on Sunday, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has also relaxed its previous order which mandated declaration of all the toll lanes into RFID-based FasTag lanes. The move is aimed at minimising inconvenience to general public but is a temporary measure.

Accordingly, depending on the traffic pile-up at high traffic volume fee plazas, not more than 25 per cent FasTag lane of fee plaza maybe temporarily converted to hybrid lanes.

"It should be ensured that the least possible number of declared FasTag lane of fee plaza be converted into the hybrid lanes temporarily and further that at least 75 per cent lanes of every fee plaza remain declared and operational as FasTag lane of fee plaza in order to incentivize the vehicles carrying FasTag," the letter from MoRTH to NHAI said.

The Ministry has directed the NHAI to do a daily evaluation of the traffic and send a report to the Ministry to take corrective action.

"It is clarified that it is a temporary measure to be adopted for 30 days only to facilitate smooth flow of traffic so that no inconvenience is caused to the citizens," the Ministry has said in its communication issued on Saturday.

An NHAI official said that the true picture would emerge on Monday only given that Sunday is weekly off for most office-goers and commuters.

"We would take decisions depending on the situation. The actual traffic flow would be known only on Monday. But in order to ensure that the implementation is smooth, marshals are being deployed. The regional officers would be present tomorrow at congested toll plazas," said an official.

In a bid to promote digital payment through RFID technology-based FasTag, the government had directed NHAI to turn all toll lanes at toll plazas FasTag lanes from December 1. But given that many vehicle-owners are yet to shift to FasTag, the roll-out plan was deferred by a fortnight till December 14.

Shifting to FasTag is set to make traffic flow seamless at toll plazas thus saving time and money for vehicle-owners.

The FasTags affixed on vehicle windscreens enable toll to be debited automatically from a linked account with no need for the vehicles to stop at the plaza.

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May 21,2024

Mysuru district Congress Committee, Women's wing, City General Secretary has been allegedly murdered by her husband at Turaganur of T Narsipur taluk Mysuru district in Bannur police station limits on Monday night.

The deceased, Vidya (36), was a resident of Srirampura, her husband, Nandish allegedly killed her when he hit her with a machete after they engaged into a verbal duel on Monday night. The accused escaped after the incident.

The incident has reportedly occurred due to a family dispute. However the exact reason is yet to be ascertained, according to police.

Mysuru district SP Seema Latkar, ASP Nandini have visited the spot along with Bannur Police.

A complaint has been filed in Bannur police station. They are in the process of filing an FIR. The police have shifted the body to K R Hospital in Mysuru for the autopsy and is looking for the accused.

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May 17,2024

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Hubballi, May 17: Karnataka Police have arrested the killer, Vishwa, also known as Girish, in the sensational Anjali Ambigera murder case, police said on Friday.

Preliminary investigations reveal that Vishwa was a habitual thief who exploited innocent young women. The accused is also a drunkard and was caught while attempting to commit theft. He was also part of a gang which stole bikes.

The accused targeted gullible young women, enacting a drama of love and playing the emotional card to forcefully extort gold, silver, and cash from them. When Anjali did not agree to any of his attempts to rob her and outrightly rejected his offer to go with him to Mysuru city, he brutally killed her.

The police had formed two teams to hunt down the killer. One of the teams was searching in the south Karnataka region, and another team, which launched a hunt in Davanagere, nabbed him. The accused was arrested by the police on Thursday.

The police could not catch him sooner as the killer did not carry a mobile phone and did not use his phone for 15 days, before murdering Anjali. The jurisdictional Bendigeri Police were aware of the killer's history, but even after the complaint by the girl’s family, they showed "utter negligence".

The 24-year-old Vishwa entered Anjali Ambigera's (20) residence at 5.30 A.M. on Wednesday and stabbed the young woman multiple times before she could react. Vishwa dragged Anjali Ambigera all over the house, kicking and stabbing her. Later, he pushed her into the kitchen where he stabbed her repeatedly.

Despite efforts by Anjali’s grandmother and two sisters to stop the attacker, he killed her and managed to flee. The incident occurred in the Veerapura Oni area within the jurisdiction of the Bendigeri Police Station.

Vishwa had been blackmailing Anjali and pressurising her to accompany him to Mysuru without informing her parents. The incident which took place close on the heels of MCA student Neha Hiremath’s brutal murder by the jilted lover has raised concern over the safety of women all across the state.

The BJP had demanded the resignation of Home Minister G. Parameshwara while the Congress leaders have also demanded that the Hubballi-Dharwad Police Commissioner Renuka Sukumar should be transferred for failing to sensitise the police force regarding issues of women’s safety.

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May 18,2024

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In a humanitarian move, Spain has refused entry to a ship carrying arms from India’s Chennai to Israel to dock at one of its ports, its Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares has said.

The Denmark-flagged cargo ship Marianne Danica sailed from Chennai on April 8 when people in Gaza were observing Ramadan fasting, and was headed to the port of Haifa in Israel, according to maritime tracking portals and Spanish media.

Spain has been extremely critical of the rising civilian casualties due to the Israeli offensive in Gaza and, along with Belgium, has suspended arms exports licenses to Tel Aviv. 

Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs Randhir Jaiswal, at the weekly press conference, only said that they have seen the report of the ship and will revert with more information.

Meanwhile, a source said, “Investigation will reveal if the items on board were cleared for export and if the end user is the same as reported by The Guardian because there are items that are not banned for exports.”

Speaking to reporters in Brussels on Thursday on the issue, Mr. Albares had said, “This is the first time we have done this because it is the first time we have detected a ship carrying a shipment of arms to Israel that wants to call at a Spanish port.”

“This will be a consistent policy with any ship carrying arms to Israel that wants to call at Spanish ports. The Foreign Ministry will systematically reject such stopovers for one obvious reason: the Middle East does not need more weapons, it needs more peace,” he stated.

The ship was carrying 27 tonnes of explosives according to local reports. It was to make a port call at Cartegena in Spain.
In February, Mr. Albares said that they had suspended arms export licences to Israel since October 7, which he said made them “realise” the importance of a “fair and lasting solution” to the Palestinian cause.

The incident comes amid an ongoing row between Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s party and his coalition partners over another ship, Borkum, that was due to dock at Cartegena port on Friday over allegations that it was carrying arms meant for Israel. However, the Spanish government has said that the arms it is ferrying are meant for the Czech Republic.

Belgium had suspended two arms export licences to Israel.

“We welcome the decision of the Spanish government to deny the transit authorisation of the vessel Marianne Danica, in accordance with Tratado (treaty) on Arms Trade and Spanish law,” Amnesty International Spain said on social media platform ‘X’.

The timing also coincides with the Israeli ground offensive inside Rafah. According to the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) at least 6,30,000 Palestinians have been forced out of Rafah since the launch of the incursion on May 7.

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