Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday said that the government will come out with a new policy, within the next three months, to replace toll plazas in the country with a GPS-based tracking toll system.
Speaking at CII’s Annual Session on August 11, Gadkari said that while GPS-based tracking toll technology is not present in the country at the moment, his ministry is currently working on developing the technology in India.
Talking about GPS-based tracking systems, Gadkari said presentations have been received from international companies and a concrete policy will be formulated within three months. He said within a year, it would be possible to go from Delhi to Dehradun in two hours; Delhi to Haridwar in two hours; Delhi to Chandigarh in two hours; and within six months, it would be possible to go from Delhi to Jaipur in just an hour-and-a-half.
The central government is planning to roll out complete GPS-based toll collection within a year. If this plan follows through, toll booths will be defunct in the country. As per the government data, 93 per cent of vehicles pay toll using FASTag but the remaining 7 per cent are yet to adopt it, despite paying the double toll.
“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),” Gadkari said in the Lok Sabha during Question Hour in March.
FASTags, which facilitates electronic payment of fees at toll plazas, was introduced in 2016.
From February 16, vehicles without FASTag are required to pay double toll fees at electronic toll plazas across the country.
Making the tags compulsory would also help in ensuring that vehicles pass seamlessly through the toll plazas, as the fee payment would be done electronically.
Gadkari also urged road construction companies to reduce the use of cement and steel while making roads to limit the cost of road construction.
The road transport minister further said that steel and cement players are indulged in cartelisation in the country. He also asked consultants to come up with innovations to reduce the cost and volume of cement and steel in the construction of roads.
