With Successful Roll Out Of FASTags, Union Govt Plans To Introduce GPS Based Toll Collection In A Year

The Modi government plans to roll out another reform in the way toll is collected on the national highways.

Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday (18 March) in Lok Sabha that the govt is all set to roll out complete GPS-based toll collection within a year.

"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)," the minister said in the Lok Sabha during Question Hour.

He also informed the house that currently 93 per cent of the vehicles are paying toll using FASTag and the remaining seven per cent have still not availed the FASTag facility despite paying a double toll, reports LiveMint.

To facilitate electronic payment of fee at toll plazas, the Union government has introduced FASTags in 2016.

From 16 February 2021, the government mandated that vehicles without FASTag are required to pay double toll fees at electronic toll plazas across the country.

In February, the daily toll collections of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) through electronic toll collection system FASTag reached a record high of about Rs 104 crore.