In a new move that will take India one step towards the future, the Narendra Modi govt will remove all toll booths across the country and will roll out a new GPS-based toll collection. The announcement was made by the Indian Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday. Gadkari announced the pivotal step by the government in a Lok Sabha proceeding.

Responding to a question raised by Bahujan Samaj Party’s Danish Ali, Gadkari said, “I want to assure the House that within one year all physical toll booths in the country will be removed. It means that toll collection will happen via GPS. The money will be collected based on GPS imaging (on vehicles).”

Mr. Danish had raised a complaint about toll booths in Hapur district and said that instead of the norm of having toll booths each 60-km intervals, his constituency have booths within 40 kms.

Gadkari responded saying, “I know in some places there are too many toll booths. It’s wrong and unfair. We have decided to get rid of them. There used to be lot of theft in this. Our income from toll tax used to be Rs 24,000 crore per year, but during Covid time, it was Rs 10,000 crore lower. But we have implemented FASTag”.

According to Mr. Gadkari a majority of existing automobiles (93%) pay tolls using the government’s FASTag, but the remaining 7% have been paying double toll instead of adapting to the new system. Mr. Gadkari also said how he has called a police inquiry against these remaining cars. “It looks like they don’t want to leave a record. Now, I have called a police inquiry,” said Mr. Gadkari.

It should be noted that the Indian government made it mandatory for all vehicles that did not possess a FASTag to pay a double toll at the toll booths. FASTags was government’s initiative to introduce seamless toll paying experience. The tag allowed automatic toll-payment when a vehicle passed through a toll-plaza. The tag uses a RFID technology and usually pasted on the windscreen of the vehicle. This tag is connected to a prepaid account from which the amount of toll gets deducted. The tags are valid for 5 years from the date it is issued and can be bought from toll plazas or from payment apps such as Paytm.

Mr Gadkari in the Lok Sabha proceedings also made a statement about the new scrapping policy which aims to curb pollution, increase fuel efficiency and in turn, increase government’s revenue from the sale of vehicles. According to the new scrapping policy a fitness test will be manditory for all privately owned vehicles that have completed 20 years. For commercial vehicles the limit is 15 years. The vehicles that fail to meet the test’s requirements may be declared an End of Life Vehicle.

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According to Mr. Gadkari, the government will implement the policy not in an instantaneous manner, but in a more phased one. The policy will be applicable for government vehicles from April 1, 2022. For other category of vehicles, like personal ones, the phased implementation will begin from June 1, 2022.

Moreover, during the Lok Sabha Question Hour, Mr. Gadkari also spoke briefly about government’s role in accident prevention and lauded Tamil Nadu as a model State which has brought down accidents by 52%. He urged the MPs to ensure that districts that fall into their constituencies should apply a ‘Zero Accident’ policy.

Mr. Gadkari said how in the last one year, people within the age group of 18-35 lost lvies due to road accidents. “In the last one year, 1.5 lakh people died due to road accidents, which are more than the 1.46 lakh deaths due to COVID-19.”

 

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