Union Minister Nitin Gadkari informed the Parliament on Thursday that Toll booths across the country will vanish within a year.
“I want to assure the House that within one year, all physical toll booths in the country will be removed . . . . .Toll money will be collected based on GPS imaging”, said the union minister for Road Transport and Highways in the Lok Sabha.
This comes in line with his statement in December where he had promised a “toll nakamukt Bharat” which means “India devoid of toll barriers”.The GPS system will be obtained with the help of Russia and the toll charges will be deducted directlyfrom the user’s bank account, the minister had said.
In February, MrGadkari’s ministry had made the automatic toll payment system FASTag mandatory. The government had said the system would help promote the digital payment of fees, reduce waiting time and fuel consumption, and provide for a seamless passage through fee plazas. The government had mandated that Those who don’t install FASTag in their vehicles or have a tag that does not work will have to pay twice the fee for the category of the vehicle they are driving. He has also he has instructed police inquiry for those vehicles which do not pay toll using FASTags. There are cases of toll theft and GST evasion.
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