Nitin Gadkari Planning to Remove Toll Plazas from Next Year

Right now, people in India are facing issues due to long queues on toll plazas because of the recently introduced FASTags. According to the Road Transport and Highways Minister of India, Nitin Gadkari, around 93 per cent of people in Indian are using FASTags and the remaining 7 per cent of total road users are paying the double amount at the toll plazas. He also said that by the next year all the toll plazas in India will be removed from the highways. The toll collection will be done by the government via GPS-enabled systems.

Nitin Gadkari said in Lok Sabha “I want to assure the house that within one year all physical toll booths in the country will be removed. It means that toll collection will happen via GPS. The money will be collected based on GPS imaging (on vehicles),”

Moreover, they are also working on cases of thefts. Nitin Gadkari has already instructed the police officials to enquire about those people who do not pay toll tax using the FASTags. In India, there have also been different GST evasion cases if the FASTags are not fitted on the vehicle. The new vehicles being sold in India already come with FASTags, while the owner of old cars can get them for free from the government. People are facing the issue of long queues at plazas because the sensors placed on these plazas are not able to scan the FASTags, due to which the whole process is done manually, which consumes a lot of time. This leads to the formation of long queues on the toll plazas.

“There is strict live monitoring at the top level, and we have been directed to take all necessary steps to ensure commuters pass through toll plazas with the use of FASTag to pay tolls, which has been made mandatory.” said an NHAI official.

People are getting quite frustrated because they need to stand in these queues for long durations. Now, NHAI is planning to draw a line that will distinguish the colour. One can see that line on every toll plaza. Once the queue of cars touches that line, the toll plaza would have to open up the gate and let the vehicle pass the toll plazas for free of cost.