In two years, all highway toll plazas will be barrier free: Nitin Gadkari

New Delhi: The government is planning to remove toll plazas from across the country in the next two years, and will move on to a Global Positioning System (GPS) technology-based toll collection to ensure seamless movement of vehicles across the country, Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday.

“With the help of 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 toll naka (barrier) free,” he added.

The toll amount will be deducted directly from the bank account based on the movement of vehicles, he explained. “While now all commercial vehicles are coming with vehicle tracking systems, the Government will come up with some plan to install GPS technology in old vehicles,” Gadkari said.

With the GPS-based toll collection system, toll income of NHAI in next five years is expected to be Rs 1,34,000 crore

-Gadkari

With the use of the GPS based toll collection system, toll income of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in next five years is expected to be Rs 1,34,000 crore, Gadkari said.

NHAI’s toll income in the FY 20 was around Rs 24,000 crore, and with the implementation of FASTags since January this year, toll income in FY 21 is expected to reach Rs 34,000 crore.

The highways ministry in July last year had asked NHAI for conversion of all toll lanes at all national highways to 'FASTag lanes', a move aimed at making travel through toll plazas seamless and also removing congestion.

FASTag users in the country breached two crore-mark in November this year, registering a growth of 400% in a year. Adoption of FASTag among road users has increased total toll collection to Rs 92 crore per day, compared to Rs 75 crores a year back, as per government estimates.

At the Assocham event, Gadkari also pointed out that steel companies had increased prices by 55 per cent in six months. “I have written a letter to the PM that we need to sit and take a decision at the highest level as reducing productivity and hiking the costs is not a good strategy,” the minister was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the industry body.

“Same is with the cement sector and such policies are not going to be viable for a long term. We need to come up with a long-term policy in this regard for cement and steel manufacturers. There is a need for uniformity in the policy,” Gadkari said.