Toll fee deducted correctly even without a FASTag sticker on car: How?

I have now phoned in for a replacement tag, but I am absolutely puzzled.

BHPian unrudh recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hey everyone, I've been driving my parents' 2022 1.5L Taigun GT on and off for the last year. We had a small but concerning incident during our recent drive from Bangalore to the Bandipur/Mudumalai resort for a short vacation.

With increasing reports of police cracking down on speeding incidences on the new BLR-Mysore expressway (I know, it's technically a highway), I was very careful to stay within the 100kmph limit. In fact, for large stretches, I drove at sub-80kmph so that my mom could crack open the window safely.

While we were cruising in the 80kmph area, a gravel-carrying truck passed us. One tiny piece of gravel fell off the back, bounced once on the road and smacked into our windshield a little to the left of the centre.

It didn't sound loud, so wasn't particularly alarming. But a little while later, we noticed a small chip in the windshield at that spot.

Much to our alarm and dismay, a thin crack started growing from the chip in both upwards and downwards. We completed the full trip safely, but at the end of 12 hours, the crack had moved all the way to the bottom frame and most of the way to the top.

Knowing how windshields are made and fitted, I was not concerned about it falling out or otherwise shattering, but it was a concerning incident nonetheless.

We got back to Bangalore without incident and reported the incident through our Acko insurance app. The car was picked up the next day and delivered back to us the day after. So I suppose all's well that ends well.

A related amusing and mysterious incident occurred yesterday. It's been about 2 weeks since we had the windshield replaced. I was off to drop people at the Bangalore airport. We drove through the toll gate that just precedes it, and the gate read our Fastag as usual.

But on the way back to the city about 15 minutes later, the gate refused to read my tag. The lady looked out of the booth and said, "Sir, your car doesn't have a Fastag". I looked at the front of the car, and yes, there was no tag. I was flabbergasted! How could the tag have disappeared in just 15 minutes, when I had not even left the car at that time? The lady even found the entry for the car from earlier and let me pass.

After driving on for a bit, I realised that of course the fastag was no longer there! We had just replaced the windshield.

Then it occurred to me, how the heck did the toll gate pass my car on the way out?? We even received the SMS stating the correct time, amount deducted and toll gate for that event.

Does anyone have any ideas? Do some Fastag stations now scan number plates?

I have now phoned in for a replacement tag, but I am absolutely puzzled

Cheers

Here's what BHPian GhostGrid had to say on the matter:

It's probable that the Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) pilot program has already begun in that area.

PS: I am just guessing it, other BHpians may be able to shed additional insight on this incident.

Here's what BHPian anandhsub had to say on the matter:

There is no need for ANPR as well.

In many toll plazas, the Fastag scanner doesn't work properly. There the toll attendant just inputs the Vehicle number and the fastag balance gets deducted.

Here's what BHPian NomadSK had to say on the matter:

A pilot project is ongoing for the automatic reading of the number plates. No idea how much is the pan INDIA coverage. Please find the snapshot below from PIB.

Here's what BHPian Mustang Sammy had to say on the matter:

I have indirect confirmation of the same.

After selling my car and removing the physical fastag I was still getting messages of toll deduction (pending the tag cancellation), which must be due to either license plate scanning or the toll booth employee manually entering the vehicle number.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.