New Delhi: Speaking at a global workshop on satellite-based tolling, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari emphasized that highway agencies should refrain from levying tolls on roads that do not meet quality standards.
Mr. Gadkari highlighted, “If you don’t provide good quality service, you should not charge toll…We are in a hurry to start tolling to collect user fees and protect our interest.” He stressed the importance of ensuring toll collection only on roads offering the best quality, warning against charging toll on roads with potholes or poor conditions.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) plans to introduce a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-based Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) within the existing FASTag ecosystem. Initially, a hybrid model combining Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)-based ETC and GNSS-based ETC will operate, starting with commercial vehicles and later expanding to private vehicles, balancing scalability and privacy considerations.
NHAI’s proposal includes comprehensive measures such as driver behavior analysis and robust backend data scrutiny to detect and prevent fraud effectively. They foresee potential advancements like converting payment modes from prepaid to postpaid under GNSS, enabling quicker financial transactions aligned with travel plans.
The implementation of GNSS-based tolling aims to streamline toll collection and enhance accountability and service quality on India’s national highways. Mr. Gadkari’s directive underscores the government’s commitment to ensuring that toll charges align with the provision of high-quality road infrastructure.
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