FASTag-based annual pass for private vehicles to roll out from August 15
Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, on Tuesday announced a game-changing initiative for private vehicle owners—a FASTag-based Annual Pass priced at ₹3,000. This initiative, effective from August 15, 2025, aims to simplify toll payments and ensure smoother highway travel across India.
Designed exclusively for non-commercial private vehicles such as cars, jeeps, and vans, the pass will be valid for one year from the date of activation or up to 200 trips—whichever comes first. The announcement was made as part of the government's broader vision to enhance travel convenience and reduce toll-related bottlenecks.
Important Announcement 📢
🔹In a transformative step towards hassle-free highway travel, we are introducing a FASTag-based Annual Pass priced at ₹3,000, effective from 15th August 2025. Valid for one year from the date of activation or up to 200 trips—whichever comes…
— Nitin Gadkari (@nitin_gadkari) June 18, 2025
The Annual Pass will be activated and renewed via a dedicated link on the Rajmarg Yatra App, as well as through the official websites of NHAI and MoRTH.
Gadkari noted that the policy also addresses long-standing public grievances around toll plazas situated within a 60-km stretch. By consolidating toll payments into a single, affordable transaction, the scheme promises to reduce wait times, ease congestion, and minimize disputes at toll plazas.
The initiative is expected to benefit millions of private vehicle owners and marks a significant step toward digitized, seamless travel infrastructure in India.
Ahmedabad Plane Crash
Aditya Bhagchandani serves as the Senior Editor and Writer at Business Upturn, where he leads coverage across the Business, Finance, Corporate, and Stock Market segments. With a keen eye for detail and a commitment to journalistic integrity, he not only contributes insightful articles but also oversees editorial direction for the reporting team.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News24
32 minutes ago
- News24
‘The union has lost touch': ‘Tired' Nehawu members form breakaway union
Former Nehawu members formed the National Democratic and Servant Workers Union after a meeting in Tshwane, citing leadership and financial issues. It plans mass recruitment in the Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, and Mpumalanga to promote worker-centred representation. It accused Nehawu of undemocratic practices, financial mismanagement, and neglecting member-specific concerns. Fed up with what they describe as 'tyranny', at least 100 former National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu) members have formed a breakaway union. The National Democratic and Servant Workers Union (NDASWU) was founded after a meeting in Tshwane over the weekend. One of the founding members, Zolani Masoleng, said a mass recruitment drive was in full swing in the Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng and Mpumalanga as a start. Masoleng said 1 000 members had been signed up in the first week. He told News24 one of the reasons that prompted members to break away was that Nehawu no longer represented the needs and aspirations of its members. 'Nehawu is no longer controlled by its members. There is a top-down approach. It has become painfully clear that Nehawu no longer represents the needs, priorities, and aspirations of a significant portion of its membership,' Masoleng said. Other reasons for cutting ties included a leadership deficit, alleged financial mismanagement, ineffective representation, neglect of sector-specific issues and a failure to support members. READ | ANC tells Mtolo to apologise to Nehawu as Mbalula moves to quash GNU tensions 'Organisational discipline has been weaponised to eliminate contestation through spurious suspensions and dissolutions of regional executive committees,' he added. Masoleng said member subscriptions, which typically range between R100 and R200, worth millions were being squandered and used to finance lavish lifestyles and endless court cases aimed at silencing dissent and sidelining alternative voices. 'There is an evident failure to represent members effectively during disputes, bargaining processes or legal challenges. The union has lost touch with the occupational realities and site-specific concerns of its members, Masoleng said, adding that there was a lack of legal representation to address grievances. READ | Bheki Mtolo issues public apology to Nehawu following threats of legal action Masoleng denied that the breakaway union comprised 'disgruntled' members. 'It's normal for your former lover to badmouth you when things go south. We expected that there would be sour grapes, but the reality is that people are tired and believe these things have to stop,' Masoleng said. He said the union would fill in gaps where Nehawu had no reach, including the private health sector, parastatals, higher education and artificial-intelligence based sectors.
Los Angeles Times
an hour ago
- Los Angeles Times
What does Juneteenth have in common with today's immigration raids?
Law is the one thing restraining an American president who regularly exceeds his authority. More than 300 lawsuits against the second Trump administration have led to at least partial relief in a number of domains, including unlawful deportations and purges of federal workers. Those victories are fragile, however, in part because they are subject to review by an often unsympathetic Supreme Court, but also for a deeper reason: They involve too few of us. The court rulings are the work of a small number of lawyers and judges and are largely opaque to most Americans. In this moment, we must do away with the common assumption that law is best left to lawyers. If we want to sustain the rule of law, we need to participate in it. The difference between law and legal empowerment is akin to the difference between the Emancipation Proclamation and Juneteenth. Although President Lincoln's proclamation theoretically went into effect on Jan. 1, 1863, it was not until 2½ years later, when Union troops arrived in Texas, that 250,000 people who were enslaved there could assert their freedom. We remember the proclamation as the first federal legal instrument to reject slavery. We remember Juneteenth for something even more important: the moment when the people whose freedom was at stake were aware of their rights and able to act on them. To protect democracy in the U.S. today, we need mass legal empowerment. In some places, it's already begun. Federal workers are learning the details of administrative law so they can respond to arbitrary and unlawful orders. Volunteers working with Organized Communities Against Deportations are helping immigrants to understand their rights and defend one another. In 27 neighborhoods across Chicago, volunteers show up within 10 minutes of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid. When people invoke their rights — for instance, insisting that agents present a valid judicial warrant before entering a private space — ICE agents have sometimes backed away. You don't need to read statutes, regulations or court decisions, which are often written in impenetrable legalese. Credible civil society organizations and some government agencies have simplified important laws. To understand the scope of the 1st Amendment, you can turn to plain language explanations from a group called Freedom Forum. A foreign student writing for a university newspaper has the same free-press rights as any other student journalist, for example, and the government cannot use federal funding to regulate the speech of nongovernmental organizations. To take climate action in spite of the government's political stance, you can begin by accessing clean energy tax credits in state and federal law. The climate laws we have will become more effective and more durable if more people understand and use them. The key is not to do it alone. The law protects our rights as individuals, but learning and using law on your own can be intimidating, especially under a government that is hostile toward basic rights. Legal empowerment works when we come together. With time, legal empowerment can address the root causes of authoritarianism. Political scientists including Cas Mudde and Pippa Norris describe a vicious cycle: Distrust in institutions leads to sympathy for authoritarian politicians, authoritarian politicians undermine institutions, and distrust deepens. When we use law to tackle problems we face, we reduce the distance between our institutions and ourselves. My colleagues and I recently analyzed interviews with 95 'justice seekers' across Kenya, India and Myanmar — people who used law to address violations of their rights. Of those interviewed, 90% had developed greater confidence in engaging government institutions; 92% said they were either willing to help or had already helped others facing similar problems. In all three countries, people who faced similar challenges came together to demand improvements in rules and systems. In Kenya, Muslims who had navigated a decades-old discriminatory ID system fought for equal treatment for all. In February 2025, after years of community meetings, marches and parliamentary hearings, President William Ruto abolished discriminatory vetting. When we do achieve positive changes in law or policy, we shouldn't assume those changes will implement themselves. Today, Muslims in Kenya are applying for IDs and tracking their experience to make sure the government follows through on the president's decree. This is the legal empowerment cycle: the journey from knowing and using law to shaping it and back again. By taking part in the legal empowerment cycle, we can build institutions that deserve our trust. I don't want to understate the problems with our current legal system or the current administration. Law is overly complicated, unaffordable and, in this moment, often disregarded by those who should be upholding it. But all of that can change. As Juneteenth reminds us, law belongs to the people. If we know it, we can use it. If we use it, we can fix it. Vivek Maru is founder and chief executive of Namati, a nonprofit organization that convenes the Grassroots Justice Network, which is open to people everywhere.
Chicago Tribune
an hour ago
- Chicago Tribune
Willie Wilson: The unfinished business of Juneteenth
Juneteenth is a reminder of progress made and an uncomfortable recognition of the distance still to be traveled toward attaining equality. On June 19, 1865, Army Gen. Gordon Granger and Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to inform enslaved African Americans living there that the Civil War had ended and that they were free. Approximately 250,000 enslaved people in Texas celebrated — but with uncertainty regarding their future. While Juneteenth represents a second Independence Day, there remains unfinished business on the journey to healing, reconciliation and racial economic justice. A Pew Research Center survey from February noted that 82% of Black Americans believe the nation has not gone far enough in achieving equal rights with white people. After the cookouts, cultural celebrations, dancing and educational seminars, the question must be asked — what is the unfinished business on the road to equality for Black Americans? In 1995, then-South African President Nelson Mandela's Government of National Unity created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to help South Africans come to terms with their troubled past. The commission sought to reveal human rights violations that happened between March 1960 and May 1994, provide support such as reparation to victims and their families and to compile a full and objective record of the effects of apartheid on South African society. Mandela appointed Desmond Tutu to chair the TRC. Unlike South Africa, the United States has yet to establish a commission to address the effects of slavery down through generations or the healing that must take place. Many falsely believe because we are generations removed from slavery that the harm has been repaired. However, the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow laws continues to have a lasting impact on racial inequality today. That impact can be seen through laws and policies that sought to maintain the status quo of white supremacy. The following are a few examples: There is nothing that compares to the horrific atrocities of slavery and Jim Crow. Families were ripped apart, thousands were lynched, women were raped and children were taught they were inferior. White people benefited economically from the institution of slavery. Generational wealth was passed down to their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Until there is an acknowledgment by those who benefited through inherited wealth from the institution of slavery or Jim Crow laws — it is hard to achieve healing and forgiveness. Tutu said, 'If you can find it in yourself to forgive, then you are no longer chained to the perpetrator.' In 2008, the nation formally apologized for slavery. House Resolution 194 acknowledged the fundamental injustice of slavery and Jim Crow laws and expressed commitment to rectifying their lingering consequences. That commitment has not materialized. Several states and cities have established reparations commissions to study and recommend ways to address the legacy of slavery and its continuing impact on Black communities. Black Americans must forgive this nation for the pain and trauma of slavery and Jim Crow laws if we are to move forward in unity. I know it is difficult to do. Although, the physical chains have gone away, the manifestations of slavery remain. Just as Jesus Christ forgave those who nailed him to the cross, we must also forgive. Forgiving does not mean we forget. Maya Angelou was right when she said, 'History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.' Just as Jewish people will never forget the Holocaust, Black people and America must never forget the dark stain of slavery. True reconciliation will help bring our nation together and free people of pain and guilt. In order to move forward, we all should seek to repent, repair and ask for forgiveness while there is still time. How can we move toward economic and racial justice when laws and other impediments are being enacted to undercut Black progress? As President Abraham Lincoln observed, a house divided against itself cannot stand. We cannot continue to be separated by racial discord and injustice. We truly are stronger together. The following are suggestions to help complete the work of Juneteenth: This country has come a long way since 1865. If we are to become that 'more perfect union,' much work remains to achieve equality for all Americans. I believe forgiveness opens the door for reconciliation. I wish everyone a happy Juneteenth! I write this commentary to make those comfortable with ignoring the unfinished business of Juneteenth uncomfortable. Willie Wilson is a business owner, philanthropist and former mayoral candidate.
