‘No More Toll Booths, No More Queues’: Satellite based collection system to be introduced soon, Nitin Gadkari

The Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari yesterday said that the government is ending toll and the new satellite based toll collection system will be introduced soon. “Now we are ending toll and there will be a satellite base toll collection system. Money will be deducted from your bank account and the amount of road you cover will be charged accordingly. Through this time and money can be saved. Earlier, it used to take 9 hours to travel from Mumbai to Pune, now it is reduced to 2 hours,” said Nitin Gadkari while talking to ANI.

Nitin Gadkari highlighted the importance of the Bharatmala Pariyojana, which intends to create over 26,000 km of economic corridors, in addition to the Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) and the North-South and East-West (NS-EW) corridors in managing the majority of freight traffic on roadways. By 2024, he predicted with conviction, the project will revolutionize the future of the country. Gadkari expressed confidence in his ability to accomplish this aim and stated his ambition to bring India’s National Highway road network up to the level of the United States.

#WATCH | Nagpur: On Toll tax, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari says, "Now we are ending toll and there will be a satellite base toll collection system. Money will be deducted from your bank account and the amount of road you cover will be charged accordingly. Through this time and… pic.twitter.com/IHWJNwM0QF

— ANI (@ANI) March 27, 2024

Nitin Gadkari had declared earlier in December that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) intends to implement this new system by March 2024. The World Bank has been informed of initiatives to expedite procedures and shorten lines at toll plazas. The average wait time at toll plazas has dramatically dropped to just 47 seconds after FASTag was implemented, which is a considerable improvement over the prior average of 714 seconds.

Between April and November of this fiscal year, there was an approximate 10% increase in construction and expansion activity on National Highways when compared to the same time from 2011 to 2023. Nonetheless, there has been a 52% decrease in the number of new construction projects allocated this year.