Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways and MSMEs Nitin Gadkari said that the Government has finalised GPS-based (Global Positioning System) technology toll collection to confirm seamless movement of vehicles across India. This will ensure the country becomes ‘toll booth free’ in the next two years, he assured.

Addressing the ASSOCHAM Foundation Week Programme on Thursday, he shared his perspective on the theme ‘National Infrastructure Pipeline critical for economic revival across sectors,’ and informed that the toll amount will be deducted directly from the bank account based of the driver. While now all commercial vehicles are coming with vehicle tracking systems, the Centre will come up with some plan to build GPS technology in old vehicles, he said.

Implementation of the GPS-based toll system will not only help reduce traffic but also help the government save money spent on maintaining such toll barriers around India. Besides, it will increase the toll income of the government by a substantial margin.

When the new GPS-based toll collection system comes is installed, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) could see its income from toll collections rise to Rs 1.34 lakh crore in five years.

Use of FASTags

The GPS-based system could boost the FASTag-based toll gathering that is already in place at national highways to decrease traffic at the toll plazas. The use of FASTags has made toll collection clear, resulting in a surge in government revenue from toll collection.