Indian roads will be toll free in two years, says Nitin Gadkari; collection to be carried out using a GPS-based system

Nitin Gadkari archive image. PTI

The government is considering eliminating toll plazas across the country over the next two years with the goal of moving toward toll collection based on Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to ensure smooth movement of vehicles, union minister Nitin Gadkari said Thursday.

“With the help of the Russian government, we have accepted the GPS system and in the next two years we will have a toll collection system running on GPS technology,” Gadkari said at the Assocham Foundation Week event. “In two years, India will be free of tolls (barriers),” he added.

All commercial vehicles manufactured today have vehicle tracking systems and the government will devise a mechanism to install GPS technology in older vehicles, the minister said.

The toll will be deducted directly from the traveler’s bank account and the system will generate a toll revenue of Rs 1.34,000 crore for the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) over the next five years. LiveMint reported. “While all commercial vehicles now come with vehicle tracking systems, the government will come up with some plan to install GPS technology in older vehicles,” Gadkari said.

In July last year, the Ministry of Road and Highway Transport requested the NHAI to convert all toll lanes on all national highways to ‘FASTag lanes’.

FASTag users in the country crossed the two crore mark in November, registering a growth of 400 percent in one year. FASTag accounts for almost three-quarters of total toll collection and has increased total collection to Rs 92 crore per day from Rs 70 crore per day a year ago, according to the NHAI statement in November. NHAI’s toll revenue in FY 2020 was around Rs 24 billion, and with the implementation of FASTags since January this year, toll revenue is expected to reach Rs 34 billion in FY 2021 , according Economic times.