No justification to charge toll if roads are in disrepair: Nitin Gadkari

NEW DELHI: Echoing the sentiment of many highway commuters, Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said there is no justification of highway agencies charging toll, if roads are not in good condition and people continue to face problems. He was speaking at a global workshop on satellite-based tolling, which will be rolled out across 5,000 km during this financial year.
Known for not mincing his words, Gadkari said, “If you don’t provide good services, you should not charge toll...We are in a hurry to start tolling to collect user fees and protect our interest.When the condition of any road is not good I get numerous complaints and there are social media posts all over...You should collect the user fee where you provide the best quality road. If you collect toll on roads with potholes, mud, then there will be a backlash from people. We (political leaders) face people’s ire.”
The minister said the field officers of NH agencies must be more sensitive towards the pain that people face waiting for long at toll plazas and there must be a mechanism for lodging grievances and their quick redressal.
Though govt made the use of FASTag for paying toll on highways mandatory in 2021 for seamless travel through toll lanes and currently around 98% transactions are through these smart tags fixed on vehicles, there have been numerous reports of queues at plazas from across the country. In its bid to put an end to this, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is working on the roll out and expansion of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-based toll collection. This aims to remove toll gates from the NH network in the next few years.
The highway authority proposes to roll this out in a phased manner, starting with only commercial vehicles and dedicating one lane on each side of toll plazas for them to pass without stopping. It’s mandatory for commercial vehicles to install vehicle tracker system (VTS), an on board unit, which is necessary for GNSS-based tolling.
Govt plans to bring private vehicles under this tolling system at a subsequent phase.
The road transport ministry has finalised a series of amendments in Central Motor Vehicle Rules and NH Fee Rules, which don’t need legislation, for roll out of the system. While vehicle owners will be incentivised to get a discount in toll charge for complying with their vehicles having OBUs for paying toll without stopping, there will be disincentives for those who don't opt for this.
Gadkari said the system (GNSS)-based toll collection will add Rs 10,000 crore to govt’s toll revenue. “We need to put in place a transparent, qualitative and a leak proof system of GNSS-based toll collection in India to ensure no inconvenience to toll users,” he added. The GNSS-based toll collection is expected to enhance efficiency, bring down logistics cost and major relief for the highway users as they will have to pay only for the distance travelled.