Friday, December 18, 2020
By Kamal Swami
Indian Highways Be “Toll Mukt” In Next Two Years: Nitin Gadkari
It is reported that the Union Road Transport & Highways Ministry has planned a new GPD-based toll collection system, which will remove all the toll plazas located on different highways in the entire country. According to the sources the ministry plans to start the new GPS based toll collection system within the whole country in the next two years. In the words of Union Road Transport & Highways Minister, Honourable Mr Nitin Gadkari, the implementation of the new toll collection process will help ensure seamless transportation of the vehicles. Under the new toll collection system, the amount of the toll charges will be deducted directly from the account of the vehicle owners according to the movement of the vehicle.
Addressing the ASSOCHAM event, Mr Gadkari said, the government of India has developed a GPS system in collaboration with the Russian government, to make the Indian highways free from the toll plazas. In the words of Mr Gadkari, “In two years, India will be toll naka mukt.” It is believed that the new toll collection system through GPS will not only help in minimizing the problem of traffic congestion on the toll plazas but also save money invested on the maintenance of the toll barriers within the country. It will also increase the income from the toll to the huge margin.
It would be interesting to know that all the commercial vehicles manufactured in the country nowadays are equipped with a vehicle tracking system. The government is planning to install the GPS system also in older vehicles. The new toll collection process is also believed to support the existing FASTag collection process implemented by the government to control the congestion of the traffic on toll plazas. The FASTag toll collection system has made the collection process transparent and also helped in increasing the revenue of the government.
