India will become 'toll plaza free' in next two years: Nitin Gadkari

Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said the use of GPS-based (Global Positioning System) toll collection will ensure India becomes “toll plaza free” in the next two years. He also said this would help the exchequer earn Rs 1.34 trillion in the next five years.
 

The central government has finalised GPS-based toll collection to ensure seamless movement of vehicles across the country.  At an industry event, the minister said the toll amount will be deducted directly from the bank account based on the movement of vehicles.
 

As of today, all commercial vehicles come with vehicle tracking systems. He said the government will come up with a plan to install GPS technology in old vehicles.
 

The toll collection may reach Rs 34,000 crore by March 2021 and by using GPS for toll collection, the income in next five years will be Rs 1.34 trillion, he said.
 

The use of technology will mean that there won’t be leakages in collection of the levy and the money transfer can happen in a transparent manner.
 

To enable seamless toll collection at the plazas, the government introduced RFID (radio frequency identification) tags.

According to an official statement by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), RFID-enabled FASTags contribute nearly three-fourth of the total toll collection (till November).
 

The daily collection stood at Rs 92 crore compared to Rs 70 crore a year ago.
 

The government rolled out FASTag-based electronic toll collection mechanism from December 15, 2019, across all toll plazas of the NHAI.