New Delhi, March 18: India will do away with toll booths and implement full GPS-based toll collection within a year, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday.
He said that 93 percent of vehicles pay tolls using Fstag, but the remaining 7 percent have not taken it despite paying double tolls.
‘I want to assure the House that all the physical toll booths in the country will be removed within a year. This means that toll collection will be via GPS. Gadkari said during the Question Hour in Lok Sabha that this money would be collected on the basis of GPS imaging (on vehicles).
The minister said that he has directed a police inquiry for vehicles that do not pay tolls using FASTags. There are cases of toll theft and GST theft if vehicles do not fit FASTags. FASTags, which facilitates electronic payment of fees at toll plazas, was introduced in 2016.
From 16 February, vehicles without FASTag have to pay double the toll charges at electronic toll plazas across the country.
Mandating the tag would also help to ensure that vehicles would have to pass through the toll plaza basically, as the fee would be paid electronically.
Gadkari said that FasTags are installed in new vehicles, while the government has said that it will give free FASTags for old vehicles.