In December, Nitin Gadkari had promised a “naka mukt Bharat toll”.
New Delhi:
Toll booths across the country and the long wait there will soon be a thing of the past, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari told parliament today. Instead, there will be a GPS-based system that will track the cars and apply the corresponding charges. Once the system is operational, it will lead to a fluid movement of vehicles across the country, added the minister, who started trending on Twitter shortly after.
“I want to assure the House that within a year, all physical toll booths in the country will be removed,” said the Union Minister of Highway and Highway Transportation at the Lok Sabha.
“The toll money will be collected based on GPS images,” he said, adding that the system will be up and running within a year.
In December, Mr. Gadkari had promised a “toll naka mukt Bharat (India without toll barriers)”.
The GPS system will be obtained with the help of Russia and tolls will be deducted directly from the user’s bank account, the minister said.
In February, the Gadkari ministry made the FASTag automatic toll payment system mandatory. The government had said the system would help promote digital fare payment, reduce waiting time and fuel consumption, and provide smooth passage through fare plazas.
The Ministry of Transport had assigned FASTag in vehicle categories “M and N”. Category “M” means a vehicle with at least four wheels used to transport passengers. And the category “N” means a four-wheeled vehicle used to transport goods and passengers.
Those who do not install FASTag on their vehicles or have a tag that does not work will have to pay double the rate for the category of vehicle they drive, the government had said.
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