Highways free of toll plazas soon

New Delhi: Toll booths in India will be a thing of the past as the Union government is all set to roll out complete GPS-based toll collection within a year.

Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Thursday informed the Lok Sabha that the government will do away with toll plazas across the country within a year. He said that a complete GPS-based toll collection will be implemented to replace toll plazas.

Gadkari was making a statement in the Lok Sabha on "Vehicles Scrapping Policy". Gadkari asserted 93 per cent of the vehicles pay toll using FASTag, while the remaining 7 per cent have still not taken it despite paying a double toll. The minister said he has instructed police inquiry for those vehicles which do not pay toll using FASTags.

There are cases of toll theft and GST evasion cases if FASTags are not fitted in vehicles. FASTag, was launched in 2016, and was made mandatory for all vehicles — with the last date to get one on February 16. All vehicles without a FASTag pay double toll at electronic toll booths.

Gadkari informed the Lower House that he has instructed that a police enquiry be carried out for vehicles which do not pay toll using a FASTag. There are cases of toll theft and GST evasion if FASTags are not fitted in vehicles, he said.

The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways had decided that all lanes in fee plazas on national highways would be declared as "FASTag lane of the fee plaza" with effect from February 16.