Nitin Gadkari: Toll Booths Will be Lifted within a Year; Money Collection via GPS

What is coming towards us can actually become a huge sigh of relief. Today for all the commuters in India who have spent countless hours in the traffic jam and leading up to toll booths, Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Nitin Gadkari, announced in the Lok Sabha that the Centre has been planning to take away all the physical booths across the country within a year.

He further said that 93% of the vehicles pay toll using FASTag, however, the remaining 7% have still not taken it despite paying a double toll.

During the Question Hour, Gadkari said that “I want to assure the House that within one year all physical toll booths within the country will be removed. We intend to make toll collection via GPS. The transaction will be based on GPS imaging on vehicles." Further, the minister affirmed that he has directed police inquiry for all those vehicles that do not pay toll using FASTags. In addition to that, if FASTags are not fitted in vehicles, there will be cases of toll theft and GST evasion.

Introduced in 2016, FASTags facilitate electronic payment of fee at toll plazas, and from February 16, vehicles without FASTag are ordered to pay double toll fee at electronic toll plazas across the country.

In fact, imposing the tags compulsory would also help in ensuring that vehicles pass seamlessly through the toll plazas since the fee payment would be done electronically. Gadkari revealed that new vehicles have FasTags fitted in them, whereas for the old vehicle the government will give free FASTags.

Furthermore, the upcoming vehicle scrappage policy will not only boost the economy but will also help in subduing pollution by taking polluting vehicles off the road, and will be notified in a period of one month or so.

Moreover, this policy can be a major step to expand the Indian automobile sector, rolling under the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The minister said it would lead to a 30% boost to the Indian automobile industry turnover to Rs 10 lakh crore in the years to come from the present about Rs 4.5 lakh crore.