3,800 swipe machines at toll plazas by December 2

NEW DELHI: Nearly 3,800 point of sale (PoS) machines will be deployed at all toll plazas on national highways by Friday night when NHAI resumes toll collection.

Admitting that it will be a tough task, sources said many of these PoS machines will be mobile ones and can also be used by commuters waiting in queues for swiping their debit or credit cards to pay toll so that they don't need to wait at toll gates. "Usually transaction time is less while paying in cash. But in the given situation, we are trying to reduce waiting time as much as we can by providing multiple options to pay toll," said an official.

Sources said the government decision to allow the use of old Rs 500 notes to pay toll is likely to reduce the crisis when toll gates start operating after 23 days of toll suspension across toll plazas. Government may have to shell out at least Rs 1,000 crore for the toll revenue loss caused to private players for its decision to suspend tolling on NHs. Officials said one of the biggest challenges will be to provide change to commuters after deducting the toll amount.

"We are working to get as much change we can get to deal with the situation. We are hopeful of banks providing us the required change. This was for the first time that toll suspension happened across the country, though only state roads continue collecting toll," a government official said.

NHAI and highway ministry expect a good number of people would use mobile wallets such as Paytm and Mobikwik to pay toll. Highway ministry is also reaching out to truckers associations appealing them to use RFID tags, mobile wallets or provide debit cards to their drivers to pay toll through electronic mode. Government has written to DGPs and chief secretaries to provide police support for resumption of toll collection.