Toll booths to go in a year: Nitin Gadkari

A truck passes from a toll tax collection booth on National Highway 2, near Etawah, Uttar Pradesh

India will do away with toll booths and implement complete GPS-based toll collection within one year, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday.

He said 93 per cent of the vehicles pay toll using FASTag, but the remaining 7 per cent have still not taken it despite paying a double toll. "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)," Gadkari said in the Lok Sabha.

The minister said he has instructed police inquiry for vehicles not pay toll using FASTags. There are cases of toll theft and GST evasion cases if FASTags are not fitted in vehicles. FASTags, which facilitate electronic payment of fee at toll plazas, was introduced in 2016.

5 per cent rebate on new cars

Under the government's vehicle scrapping policy, about 5 per cent rebate on new cars would be offered to buyers on scrapping of old vehicles, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari told Parliament on Thursday and termed it a "win-win" policy that will help improve fuel efficiency and reduce pollution.An advisory in this regard would be issued by the ministry, he said.

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Percentage of vehicles using FASTag to pay toll

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