If roads not in good shape, agencies should not collect toll, says Gadkari

New Delhi, June 26

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has said highway agencies should not charge tolls if roads are not in good condition. Gadkari was speaking at a global workshop on satellite-based tolling, set to be implemented over 5,000 km this financial year.

“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,” the road transport and highways minister said.

“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.”

State-owned NHAI plans to implement (Global Navigation Satellite System) GNSS-based Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) system within the existing FASTag ecosystem, initially using a hybrid model where both (Radio Frequency Identification) RFID-based ETC and GNSS-based ETC will operate simultaneously.

NHAI proposes to roll this out on commercial vehicles initially then private vehicles, considering scalability and privacy concerns.