Nitin Gadkari, the minister of road transport, announced on Tuesday that the government is conducting pilot projects to replace toll plazas with automatic number plate recognition systems, which will allow vehicle owners to deduct fees from their bank accounts.
At the Mindmine Summit, the Minister of Road Transport and Highways said the National Highways Authority of India’s (NHAI) toll revenue increased by Rs 15,000 crore a year after FASTags were implemented. In the future, we will launch automatic number plate readers (automatic number plate recognition cameras) that will eliminate toll plazas, he said without providing any further details.
It took an average of 8 minutes for vehicles to pass through toll plazas during 2018-19. Since the introduction of FASTags in 2020-21 and 2021-22, the average vehicle waiting time has been reduced to 47 seconds. The waiting time at toll plazas has improved significantly, but there are still some delays, especially near cities and densely populated towns, during peak hours. The government is considering two options — a satellite-based toll system where the toll is directly deducted from the passenger’s bank account or a number plate-based toll system.
We are introducing GPS instead of FASTag using satellite and on the basis of that we will implement the toll. The technology is also available on the number plate and there is good technology available in India,” he said. It is my belief that with number plate technology, there will be no toll plazas and there will be a sophisticated computerized digital system by which we can provide relief. Although we have not yet made a decision, my view on number plate technology is that there will be no toll plaza. “People will be relieved and there will be no queues,” the minister had said.